Collapse
by Arrowcomix
Summary: When a supposedly easy mission turns out to be anything but, it's up to the YJ team to pull themselves together before everything falls apart. No slash. Uploaded for Black Friar and APL15's YJ competition. Warnings: Violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Okay, apparently me and FF are doing battle today. But this chapter will go up. I demand it cooperate!**

 **Anyhow, I posted this story for two reasons, first off, because I fully agree with Black Friar and APL15 in that the YJ community needs a bit of love right now. It's dying and I am not pleased. Second off, my writing skillz need work, and this was the perfect opportunity to practice. I know, I know. I'm an artist, not an author. But that doesn't mean I can't subject you all to my writing anyway! (cue evil laughter)**

 **Also, the next few chapters are of course finished and will be uploaded at a time and place. Wasn't that helpful~**

 **Thank you guys, and enjoy!**

Collapse

Chapter 1

Robin snapped his eyes open suddenly as waves of pain washed over him. Unable to think, to even try and grasp his situation, he rolled over and threw up, choking and confused. A hand immediately came to rest on his shoulder and he could feel himself trembling beneath the touch. After a few moments of coughing and gagging, he pushed himself up shakily, finally able to take a full breath. Dizzily, he shook his head hoping to clear it. He immediately regretted the action as the world spun crazily despite being on his hands and knees. The fingers on his shoulder tightened, and sound finally began to register.

"-to take it easy Rob!"

It wasn't so much the owner of that voice that made Robin blink in amazement, but the uncharacteristic scared quiver that his best friend was trying so valiantly to hide that made the world finally right itself. Taking several seconds to steady himself, Robin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked over at Kid Flash. It was dark, and shadows were playing with his friend's features, but Dick could tell that Wally didn't look good. He was pale, his eyes were wide and full of worry, and after a moment in which to take in his friend's full appearance, Dick noticed Wally's leg was covered in blood.

"Wally!" His voice was raspy, so he swallowed and tried again. "Bro, what happened to-" And suddenly despite his pounding headache, memories came rushing back fast.

 _flashback_

Batman was pacing in front of the teenagers, his voice serious as he stared at each one in turn. Other than his echoing steps and stern address, the room was silent.

"You have proven yourself in the past few weeks, so I am expecting a clean mission. In and out in a matter of minutes. I feel it necessary to repeat that this is simply recon. No unnecessary risks."

Kaldur just barely met Batman's eyes before shifting his gaze to the floor. It seemed the team had been taking on unnecessary risk nearly every mission. The only reason they were still allowed to function was because despite their inability to follow orders, they had in fact produced excellent results. But their disregard for the rules couldn't last forever, and Kaldur knew it.

"All we need is evidence of this supposed new drug manufacturer. As previously stated, you will be working off an anonymous tip, meaning we have no idea what you will be up against. Do not take this mission lightly. Keep your minds on the objective at all times, and radio the Watchtower for backup immediately if anything out of the ordinary happens." Batman stopped and turned to face the team, narrowing his eyes in the process. "Is that clear?"

They all nodded in the affirmative.

* * *

Upon arrival, Kaldur had split them into two teams. He, Conner and M'gann, Team A, were needed to distract the army of guards who turned out to be surrounding the building. It would destroy the covert part of the mission, but it was necessary. Besides, Team B could still find everything they needed concerning the nature of the operation. While Team A's powers were flashy and would hold the security, Team B consisted of Kid Flash, Artemis Wolf, and Robin, the more stealthy members. They could be in and out with the evidence they needed before these people knew what hit them. Conner hadn't been happy when ordered to split from his new friend, but Kaldur had reasonably pointed out that the canine's super enhanced sense of smell and hearing would provide a much needed alert for unwanted company.

And so the mission progressed. They were on an island off the Canadian coast close to Newfoundland, which was listed as uninhabited. But satellite imagery had debunked that falsehood before the mission even started. The large worn down building hidden between the jagged rocky cliffs and piney forest didn't exactly scream deserted after all. Robin's team snuck its way to its starting position in a matter of minutes and waited for Kaldur to give the mental signal to start. Despite a lack of greenery, they were able to blend in well with the dark, damp rocks as they stood by. As Kaldur had predicted, after a few seconds of tense silence Wolf's head snapped to the right and his nose twitched as he began to growl. Artemis went to investigate, coming back a minute later with a smirk and stating that the guards here were pathetic. Kid Flash scratched the dog gratefully behind the ears.

Finally Team A was also ready, and the mission began in earnest. Robin lead his friends through the shadows as they approached the building together. They were nearly inside when suddenly-

" _No- NO! IT'S A TRAP!_ " M'gann's voice sounded over the mind link, panicked and urgent.

Robin had froze, his blood running cold with that single frantic statement through the mind link.

" _Wait, what do you mean a trap?!_ " Kid Flashes surprised voice asked telepathically..

Robin looked back in time to see Artemis rolling her eyes. _"What do you think she means? A trap is a trap Kid Idiot!_ " She thought out towards them. " _Do you need backup?_ "

Silence.

They waited anxiously for a response, crouching behind a few scraggly bushes for cover.

Robin was just about to try and contact the others through their comm links when M'ganns voice reverberated frantically in their minds. " _Superboy's down! They knew we were coming! Whatever you guys do, don-_ "

Just like that the mental connection was severed, and the three looked at each other in alarm. Robin put a hand up to his comm and spoke quickly. "M'gann! Do you read me! M'gann! Conner! Aqualad!" A long silence followed, and Robin clenched his fists, his emotions somewhere between panic and frustration.

Just then, a loud explosion rocked the island in the direction of the building's front. Robin and Kid Flash were already pushing themselves to their feet, but Artemis grabbed their wrists.

"What are you doing?!" She hissed. "You heard M'gann. It's a trap! They know we're here. And they might have just taken out all three of our best fighters!"

"Uh, yeah, which means they need our help _now_!" Kid Flash shot back, shrugging off her hold. "Of course we're going."

"Fine."Artemis snapped, folding her arms and glaring daggers at Kid Flash. "Go in all headstrong as usual and run right into an ambush like the others."

Kid opened his mouth to reply but Robin beat him to it. "Guys, chill. We can't leave our team behind but we can't go running in ignoring what's over there either." He turned to look at Kid Flash, locking eyes with his best friend. "Go do a quick recon around the front of the building, but keep a good distance away from the guards. Don't do anything stupid, just tell us what you see."

KF nodded, clenched his jaw, and then shot away, leaving a slight breeze in his wake. Standing up, Robin started picking his way across the rocky terrain, Artemis following and looking distinctly unhappy. Wolf trotted by Robin's side, smelling the now smoky air. Shouts could be heard in the distance along with the crackle of burning wood.

"I can't see anything!" Kid Flash's slightly panicked voice came through their comms. "There's way too much smoke. I'm gonna clear it away."

"KF, NO!" Robin hissed. Yet from his friend's lack of a reply he knew the speedster was already in the process of forming wind strong enough to clear the smoke and suffocate any lasting flames. Frustrated, Robin broke into a sprint, Artemis and Wolf close behind him. He could already see a huge fairy tornado stretching a good thirty feet into the sky, spiting smoke and flames. Then Wally's voice crackled to life once again.

"I still don't see th- Oh no..." Then, "GUYSSTAYBACKTHEYHAVE-"

In the next moment a gunshot rung out simultaneously in the distance and through their comm links, accompanied with a scream of pain from Kid Flash.

Robin's fear reached a new peak. "KF!" He yelled as he rounded the side of the building at a sprint, all pretense of discretion gone. Even as he saw his friend staggering to the ground as the wind around Kid Flash died away, he began pulling batarangs from his belt. Guards were running towards Kid, all brandishing handguns, though they had stopped firing. Praying they didn't have armour piercing rounds, Robin charged directly at them, taking careful aim and throwing his projectiles. Two guards dropped their guns swearing while the third got a batarang to the shoulder. The remainder immediately turned their sights on the newcomers, whirling around and pointing their guns in Team B's direction. Robin threw a smoke pellet down before they had a chance to decide who to shoot at first, but he couldn't help finding their hesitancy to open fire odd.

"Artemis, can you hold them off for a second?" He whispered to his friend.

"Probably not, so hurry!" She breathed.

Without a second thought, Robin ran to where he knew Wally was, his training kicking in as he made his way through the thick smoke."KF, can you hear me? Where were you hit?" He whispered, placing a finger to his communicator. A bullet rang through the air and hit the ground very close to Robin's foot, spraying dirt into the air, and making him flinch. That wasn't a shot from a hand gun. There was a sniper!

"M-my leg!" Wally growled, pain evident in his voice. "Damn it! Why couldn't it be my arm or something! I could so be helping you kick all these guys' butts."

Robin exhaled, relieved and almost smiling as he heard his friend's voice. Being hit in the leg was much better then the chest after all.

A giant of a man suddenly lumbered into Robin's path, staggering blindly through the smoke, but Robin dropped to his knees before the guard could react and delivered a hard kick to his knees. Falling with a muffled yell, it was all the guard could do to try and fire his weapon into the air before Robin gave him a final punch which rendered him unconscious. Flipping to his feet, Robin sprinted the rest of the way to his friend. The smoke from the bomb was nearly cleared by now, but a few small fires KF hadn't managed to put out were still sputtering smoke. They made the night air thick and acidic. Kid Flash was trying to stand with little luck as blood seeped from the back of his upper shin. His eyes lit up when he saw Robin, then immediately widened in shock as he pointed behind Dick with a bloody hand.

"Rob, Behind you!"

But it was too late. As he turned, Robin felt something hard sliding along his side. He gasped taking several steps back, and then grit his teeth, grabbing for some batarangs... that weren't there. His belt was gone! Shocked, he came to a stop beside Kid Flash, staring down at his belt which his attacker was now stepping over. He looked at his waist. His Kevlar uniform had taken the brunt of the damage, but it was sliced almost completely through, and his belt was in fact gone. How!? How had the man possibly cut it!? That belt was made of Boron Carbide! Revealing a gun in his other hand, the guard sheathed his knife and knelt down to pick up the belt. Robin froze, not daring to hope. All the belts used by the bats had a security function. If anyone tried to mess with it who wasn't supposed to, they would be met with 50,000 volts. But before Robin could see that particular pleasure, Artemis's voice came through his ear. She was breathing hard and shouting.

"Robin, I had to retreat! Get out of there!"

Regretting having to leave his arsenal of weapons behind, Robin looked pointedly down at his friend who was still trying fruitlessly to stand. The guard's hand reached the belt, and he picked it up slowly, smiling.

"Not so tough without your toys, are you boy?" He jeered.

Robin bristled. Boy? He could knock this pathetic excuse for hired muscle out in a second flat, but he couldn't risk any sudden movements. Not when the man had a gun pointing straight at him and his injured friend.

Robin kept inching backwards, watching the man closely. Please let him try to open it! Come on!

Finally the man's curiosity got the better of him as Robin knew it would, and he absentmindedly fingered one of the batarangs attached the the inside of the belt. Instantly he went rigid and Robin heard the satisfying buzz of electricity as the man staggered back and fell to his side, twitching. Robin grinned darkly, which then turned to a grimace as more gunfire rang out in front of him. Giving the discarded belt a few feet from him a final glance, he knelt down, grabbing Kid Flash's arm. It was either the belt, or Wally, which wasn't a competition.

Wincing in sympathy as his friend moaned when pulled to his feet, Robin stood and turned, beginning to run in the opposite direction of the guards. By now the smoke from the fires was thick enough again to lower visibility, and the two made their way quickly into the thick brush to the right of the building. Concern for Wally flooded Robin as he half supported, half dragged him towards the forest ahead. But his attention immediately turned to the heavy booted footsteps of the men behind him and the rattle of gunfire. He heard the bullets lodge themselves in the ground not far from his and KF's feet, and pushed his friends arm higher up on his shoulders. Thank god for poor visibility!

"Come on KF, move! We need to get to cover." Robin said, pulling kid along and looking behind his shoulder. They were coming up to a forest filled with rocky alcoves and canyons. It would be easy to get lost in it. Panting Robin shifted Kid Flash's considerable weight and put a finger to his comm unit. "Artemis, where are you?"

"We had to double around the building! Wolf's tracking your sent. We'll meet up with you soon!"

"Are either of you hurt?"

"No, I was fighting mostly long distance. But it was weird. Either these guy have terrible aim, or they weren't actually trying to hit me."

Robin frowned, thinking as he and KF pushed their way through scratchy bushes and further into the trees, slipping and sliding on loose rocks every once in a while. "Yeah, I know what you mean. There were a few times where they could have easily shot me or KF back there, but they hesitated. Almost like..."

"Like they didn't want to kill us." Kid finished for him. "Something's off. Think about it. They got me in the leg with a sniper. That's what I was trying to tell you guys before I got hit. I don't think they were aiming to kill."

"Yeah", Robin sighed frustrated. "I noticed. And they took my belt. They knew how to weaken us. Guys, I think they're trying to capture us alive."

Artemis "hmmed" in agreement. "So the others?"

"It's pretty overstandable," Robin whispered. "But I think they're alive. Alive and held captive."

"Deja vu." Artemis growled. And Robin couldn't help but agree.

"Overstandable?" Wally asked.

"Y'know. It doesn't make sense."

Groaning, Wally opened his mouth to say something when suddenly there was a rustle to their left, and he and Robin whirled around to face the thick trees. They froze. Four men, all armed with semi automatics, and this time Robin got the impression that the owners aiming guns at their chests would be more than happy to pull the trigger.

One of them standing to the left stepped forward, his stance tense and his eyes dark and serious. "We have orders to either bring you in or kill you," he said gruffly. "The choice is yours."

Keeping his voice calm, Robin began stalling for time. "Will you bring us to our teammates? Do you have them?"

The man's face twisted into a nasty grin. "That's classified kiddies. And I wouldn't tell you even if I knew. Now I'd suggest you put your hands where I can see them and get on your knees. _Now._ "

Ice seemed to settle in Robin's veins once again and he glanced at Kid Flash quickly. His friend gave a tired nod, and Robin slowly, painfully helped him to the ground. The two then raised their arms slowly, Kid leaning on Robin's shoulder for support.

"Smart move." The man said, keeping his gun pointed at their chests as he moved forward with the other guards. "Having collateral against the Bat and Superman... we're as much as home free."

Robin was still working on processing that final statement when a slight whistle caught his attention. He and Kid Flash had heard it enough times to react. Robin grabbed KF, and the two dived to the side as an explosion rocked the ground around them. Robin remembered feeling himself being flung through the air, hitting something hard, a sickening painful crack, and then everything going black.

 _End Flashback_

"Wait!" Robin gasped, clutching his head. "The guards! Where are the guards?"

"Easy Boy Wonder," a female voice said quickly, and Robin blinked up to see Artemis now kneeling down in front of him, "those muscle heads are out cold, and gagged for good measure. But we do need to move now that you're awake. That explosion wasn't exactly..." She paused, looking a bit sheepish, "...subtle."

Wally snorted. "More like it was blatantly obvious. And you guys say I suck at being stealthy."

"Hey, it was either that, or be captured. And I don't feel like pulling off another solo rescue mission"

Wally shrugged. "You could have at least used foam or a net or... or I dunno! Something less _painful!_ "

"Yeah, great idea Wally!" Artemis snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Trapping you two with the four men who wanted to kill you! That's a real brainwave."

"Kinda like the one you had when you shot an _explosiv_ e _arrow_ at us and nearly _killed_ me and Rob!"

The pain in his head coming to a particularly excruciating spike, Robin held up his hand for quiet, and miraculously, the other two fell silent. He used the blessed calm to think. His head was throbbing, making him feel sick, and he gingerly felt the back of his skull and winced. His hand came away bloody. Probably a concussion. Brilliant. Batman was gonna kill him.

Gathering his thoughts, Robin took a long steadying breath. "We need to get away from here before reinforcements come, so we can try and figure out what happened to the others. But first things first, we need to contact the League."

The other two fidgeted, looked at each other, and then back at Robin.

"Uh, we tried." Wally said slowly. "But, for whatever reason, we can't reach them with our comm units."

"What?" Robin said sharply, surprised. "But we were talking to each other just a few minutes ago."

"Yeah." Artemis said. "But they blocked the signal or something. Now all we hear is static."

"Alright." Robin sighed, starting to feel panic eat away at the edges of his composure. "Then we have to stop whatever is blocking the signal."

"But what about the others?" KF asked shakily. "We can't just leave them with those creeps! We need to rescue them first!"

Rubbing his temple and wishing his headache would subside so he could think straight, Robin considered the situation. Normally contacting the League was the top priority. But that was because they could back up the team if they needed help. Right now, Aqualad, Superboy, and M'gann were the ones in the most immediate danger. And the ones who could help them were sitting here in this rocky clearing, debating whether to act or not.

"Yeah, okay fine. Our first objective is to try and rescue the others." _Assuming they're still alive._ He couldn't help thinking the last part which brought a new wave of nausea back. He worked hard to fight it down. The guards final words before the explosion were hopeful, but being Batman's partner meant you thought through all possible scenarios. No matter how grim the prospects. "But if it's too dangerous or an opportunity comes up where we can shutdown whatever's jamming our comm's signals, we take it. This whole mission has blown way over our heads."

Artemis nodded and Kid Flash scowled, but didn't object. Sitting up a bit straighter, Robin looked around cautiously at the burnt trees and bits of splintered wood and cracked rock scattered across the clearing. "KF, how's your leg?" He asked.

"Well...," Wally shrugged. "It's pretty much stopped bleeding already. That's the good part about super fast healing."

"Let me see." Robin ordered, then flinched. He hadn't meant to sound so demanding.

Shifting his position to lean on his good leg, Wally gingerly moved so that the back of his shin was visible. He had been right, the bleeding had slowed to almost nothing as the injury began to form a scab. But there was only an entrance wound, which meant the injury was still going to be a problem. Robin only hoped any muscle damage or internal bleeding caused by the bullet would heal on its own as well.

"I don't suppose either of you have Iodine or bandages on you?" He asked, Alfred's first aid lectures coming to the forefront of his mind.

"No." They answered in unison.

"Perfect." Robin wished he had his belt for what he was sure would be the first of many times tonight. He pondered if he should use strips from his cape as a makeshift bandage. But the fabric would be nearly impossible to tear, not to mention extremely unhygienic. Besides, if the bleeding was already slowing on its own, there was little need as long as they kept Wally off his leg.

"Oh, wait, I do have this though!" Artemis said, picking something up to her right and handing Robin a sheathed knife and taser. She turned and handed Wally a taser as well. "I got them off two of the guards I was tying up. I noticed you don't have your belt, and Wally is sorta out of action too."

"Yeah, thanks Artemis." Robin managed a grateful half smile, taking his weapons while Wally sat beside him, gazing at his own taser with a weird look on his face. Robin didn't recognize the brand, but a taser was a standard part of his arsenal. The knife on the other hand was a different story. He had been trained to fight using nonlethal methods and from a far distance, neither of which required a blade. But he had still been taught the basics of handling a knife by Batman and it looked like those lessons were about to be put to the test. Still, Robin felt reassured as he held the blade and taser in his hands. At least he wasn't defenseless.

At that moment, something nudged Robin's back, making him jump and turn sharply, but it was only Wolf. The huge white animal nudged him with its muzzle again before turning to look to their left, a low warning of a growl escaping his throat.

In an instant, Robin's senses were on full alert. "We've taken to long!" He stood up and swayed dangerously, but blinked several times and put a hand on Wolf's back for balance... _Wolf_!

"KF, come climb on Wolf's back!"

"What! Why!?"

"Because he can carry you a lot easier then me or Artemis!"

Wally opened his mouth to argue but Robin cut him off. "They're coming KF, just do it!"

Looking a bit nervous, Wally took Robin's outstretched arm, limping the few steps to stand by the animal. Kneeling down, Robin gave his friend a boost up by his good leg, and the next second Kid Flash was sitting on top of an indignant looking Wolf.

"Let's move!" Artemis whispered, and the four disappeared deeper into the shadows.

* * *

It was all Wally could do to grab fistfuls of hair and hold on for dear life. True, they weren't going particularly fast, but Wolf was heading deeper into the trees at a confident trot that was already making him sore. Grudgingly Wally had to admit that this idea wasn't as sucky as he originally imagined. With his leg as busted up as it was, the alternative was being dragged through this rough rocky terrain, which would pretty much mean immanent capture. Still, Wally hated relying on an oversized dog for transport. He was one of the fastest people alive for heavens sake! And here he was, stuck with a bullet lodged in his leg and no help to anyone.

Robin stumbled and Wally quickly looked down. His friend had one hand entangled in the Wolf's thick white hair for support as they made their way through the unsteady rocks and prickly pine branches. "You okay?" He asked.

"Fine. Just a bit dizzy. It'll pass."

Wally sort of doubted that. Robin had been out for a good minute after that explosion, and he could see dried blood in his friend's hair.

"Okay, here's as good a place as any." Artemis whispered from the front of their procession, and the group stopped.

"So?" The archer asked, walking over to stand by Wolf's head and staring at Robin. "What's our plan?"

Leaning heavily against Wolf, Robin looked up at Wally, then over at Artemis. "I still have my wrist computer. If we get near the building I should be able to download its schematics and figure out likely places the others are being held at, and the best way to get there.

"And how about the army of guards that are sure to be patrolling the building's perimeter?" Artemis asked, hands on her hips.

Robbin shrugged. "Aqualad chose us because he thought we would be the best at not getting caught. Let's prove he was right."

Wally's stomach plummeted. He'd been put on this team because he was fast. Fast enough to grab the gun out of an unsuspecting baddies hand before they could blink. Without his speed he was just a teenager with a big mouth.

"Uh, Rob." He said uncertainly. "There's no way I can run on this leg."

"Obviously." His friend said rolling his eyes.

Folding his arms, Wally glared down at him. Robin wasn't making admitting this any easier. And the throbbing pain radiating through his leg might have been making Wally a bit touchy to begin with. "Yeah! So I'm pretty much the worst person to bring on a stealth mission right now!"

"Don't be an idiot." Artemis sighed exasperatedly. But Robin cocked his head to one side and looked up at his friend.

"KF, just because you can't run, doesn't mean you can't be helpful."

Kid Flash snorted. "Uh, yeah actually, that's exactly what it means. Think dude. Without my speed I'll just slow you guys down."

"Yeah right," Robin said annoyed. "I might be a great hacker and stuff, but I have no clue what I'm looking for in terms of whatever is jamming our comm units. That science stuff is totally your expertise, not mine. Besides, another person on the mission means you can help keep a look out. You can tell us if Wolf's sensed anything unusual. And that taser you're carrying isn't just for show."

Wally feel silent, taken off guard. He had just complained to _Robin_ of all people because _he_ couldn't use his powers. Smooth Wally. And yet his friend had found a way to make him feel better anyway. "Uh, okay yeah!" He said, pulling himself together. Robin was right, of course he could still help. Where had that self pity party come from? "Sorry, I was being stupid."

Robin grinned up at his friend. "That's nothing out of the ordinary."

KF scowled and tried to kick Robin with his good leg, but the younger boy laughed and ducked out of the way.

Artemis stepped between the two. "As much as I hate to interrupt this little bromance, I'd like to remind you that our friends are in serious danger here!"

Robin and Kid Flash mellowed immediately. "Right." Robin whispered. "Come on, let's double back. And this time we take out any guards we find."

The other two nodded, with grim determination.

* * *

Conner shifted slowly, his consciousness swimming with foggy memories he couldn't quite grasp. He was laying on something cold and hard, and he felt...funny. No, not funny, something hurt. The realization that he was actually in pain shocked Superboy so much that he snapped into full alertness, shifting into a sitting position with a groan. Immediately, and to his amazed shock, his arms buckled the moment they tried to support his wait and he fell pathetically back to the ground.

 _What the hell?_

"Superboy?" A small scared familiar voice ventured, and he blinked and looked over to see relieved amber eyes staring at him. It was M'gann. She was about ten feet away, her hands cuffed together and attached to a short chain. Her small huddled form was illuminated brilliantly by a bright flickering light.

It only took Conner a second to pull the puzzle pieces in front of him into a vivid and terrifying scene. Wotan sat cross-legged across the room from Conner, while flames danced in front of him in mid air. The Wizard rested unconcernedly between a weak M'gann and unconscious Aqualad, both of who Conner knew were extremely vulnerable to heat. Kaldur lay unmoving upon the floor, his breaths laboured, while M'gann tried fruitlessly to pull further back from the source of the fire. But the restraints ensured she was too close to escape its effects.

Something dark and instinctive boiled up inside Conner, and, forgetting his pain and weakness, he snarled and threw himself forward. Immediately he was snapped backwards by a chain attached to his wrists and once again fell in a heap to the ground, outraged. He was Superboy! Since when couldn't he break a few flimsy bands of metal?

"Stop Superboy." Magann whispered. "Look."

She glanced to a spot above Conner and he followed her gaze to see a shining green rock floating in mid air above him. He had to close his eyes and take several breaths after glancing up at it. That stone was the culprit making him feel so weak. Even with it being feet from him it still rendered his powers useless.

"Get this stuff away from us or I'll tear you apart!" Conner threatened darkly, staring at the wizard. The man merely smiled wickedly before muttering a single word.

"Nrub."

Instantly the fire dancing on the other side of the room intensified, and M'gann whimpered and tried once again to draw away from the flames. Her restraints clinked together pitifully. Even Conner could feel waves of heat radiating from the wizard's spell and could only imagine how M'gann or Kaldur were taking it.

"STOP IT!" He yelled uselessly before blinding anger made speech beyond his current thought processes. He simply envisioned how hard his fist would smash into this guy's face once he was free. But it was all he could do to thrash around in his restraints and mutter incomprehensibly.

It could only have been a few seconds before he was lying still on the grimy cement floor again, panting hard and cursing the existence of Kryptonite.

"Superboy!" M'gann cried out weakly. "Are you okay?"

A soft click and the eerie creek of a rusty door being opened pronounced a new arrival. The stupid rock must have been messing with more then Conner's strength because he should have heard someone approaching far before now. Pain and exhaustion were rather rare sensations for Superboy, but he fought through them to push himself up slightly and look to his left where footsteps were now echoing.

A low amused laugh made Conner clench his fists in fury. He knew that voice.

"How's it feel to be weak Superboy? Vulnerable. At my mercy." Sportsmaster stopped to stare down at Conner like a vulture contemplating its next meal.

"What do you want?" Conner spat, frayed nerves making his anger spike even higher.

"Right to the point I see. Good. I don't feel like wasting time" Sportsmaster crouched down in front of Conner who attempted to leverage a fist at the man's masked face. But Sportsmaster caught Conner's wrist in mid swing and squeezed hard. Pain made him snarl once again and Conner tried to force his hand from the villains grasp, but it was no use. The Kryptonite was doing its job. Conner had never felt so helpless before and it scared him, which in turn made him even angrier.

"I want information about your mentors. And you're going to give it to me." Sportsmaster purred.

"Go to hell!"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Formatting. Who needs it anyway! Er, okay, so, FF deleted my line breaks. I am trying to add them back, so we will see how that goes. Silly Fan Fiction.**

Chapter 2

The poor guy never saw it coming. One second he was out on patrol, glaring around at a noise he heard from his right, the next a small black shadow had dropped on him from above. A sharp pain in his neck was the last thing he felt before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Robin stood up, staggered slightly, and dusted himself off, grinning as Artemis, Wally, and Wolf made their way out from the tree line to his right. Him and Artemis had been taking turns taking out any guards they came across whenever Wolf smelt someone approaching. It was fast, efficient, saved Artemis's arrows, and best of all, it was quiet. Ironically enough, every guard so far had been carrying rope on them as well as hand cuffs, which were used to tie them up once unconscious. They had been checking everyone's pockets as well for supplies and had found nothing too exciting so far. No bandages yet. However, as Robin rifled through this guy's pockets while Artemis tied him to a tree, he found something of particular interest.

"Keys!" Wally exclaimed excitedly as Robin dangled the small glinting object up in victory.

"Yup! These guys are such idiots!" Robin said happily as he and KF high fived.

"Definitely." Artemis agreed standing up to their left. "They think just because they have fancy weapons it makes them invincible or something."

"Maybe getting the crap kicked out of them by a couple of teenagers will be a good learning experience." Kid suggested happily as the group moved forward once again. They fell into silence as the trees began to thin and they made their way to the otter edge of the forest. Yells could be heard in the distance as guards no doubt frantically scouted the island for them.

"I didn't see any cameras outside the building earlier. You guys?" Robin asked as they knelt down behind some bushes now that the trees didn't provide enough cover.

"No." Artemis said.

"They might have some hidden though." Kid Flash added while ducking to stay concealed while on Wolf's back. He had become much more confident in the past hour concerning riding.

Nodding, Robin wished he had his binoculars. "Guess the best thing to do will be to stick to the shadows. I need to find somewhere outside I can plug into the buildings systems. Check for motion sensors and stuff."

Kid Flash frowned as he scanned the plain grey brick building in front of them. "I dunno. This place looks pretty low tech. You said there was no remote access earlier right? Is there anything you can even connect to?"

Cracking his knuckles, Robin smiled mischievously. "There's always something."

Artemis shifted uncomfortably. "We'll be spotted in seconds if we all go out there."

"I know." Robin whispered. "I need to go alone."

Immediately the other two objected.

"No way!" Kid Flash hissed, "you're gonna have to face away from all those guards. You'll be wide open!"

"And you're the only one who can get us those schematics! If you get caught too, we're screwed." Artemis added.

"Which is why I need you guys to stay here. If a guard comes too close, you can take him out before he sees me!"

"Easier said then done." Wally muttered.

Robin leaned back wearily on his heals, rubbing his temple. "Got any better ideas?"

The answering silence was all the confirmation he needed.

"That small blue box over there." Robin said pointing to the far left of the building where there happened to be no convenient trees or bushes for cover. "That panel should have an access point."

Nervous energy was making wally vibrate slightly and Wolf shook irritably to make him stop, which he only did through a surprisingly admirable amount of self control. "Okay, fine." He turned to look at Artemis. "But you should go up into the trees so that if worst comes to worst you can use arrows to cover Rob. We might need to make a quick retreat."

Shrugging, Robin peered out at the nearly deserted ground again. "Fair enough. I'm guessing you and Wolf will keep en eye out for any guards sneaking up from the forest?"

Wally nodded.

"Good. Because I'm going to run right after that guard turns."

Robin merely glanced the shock on the other two's faces before Artemis scurried backwards to find a tree with a good vantage point while Kid Flash looked frantically around for a trace of any last minute security. With the ghost of a laugh, Robin slipped into the shadows and disappeared like only a bat could.

* * *

"Tell me what you know about Superman!"

"No!"

 _Smack!_

It was strange actually feeling pain, and Conner could honestly now appreciate what his teammates were complaining about when they came back from a mission battered and bruised. Sportsmaster drew back his fist, his eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"What is Superman's true identity boy? Tell me!"

Glaring up at the man crouched over him, Conner simply scowled. The next instant a fist smashed into his jaw and his head snapped back violently as his brain numbly registered the pain.

"We're not playing games here. Either you tell me what I want to know, or we see exactly how vulnerable that Kryptonite makes you."

M'gann was screaming something in the background, but Conner's focus was divided between the pain radiating through his face and those angry eyes staring right at him.

"What makes you think I would know." Conner Asked sluggishly. "Superman wouldn't trust me with any of his secrets. It's not like I'm his..." He paused. He had almost said son. "His partner or anything."

A hand grabbed the front of his shirt and Conner found himself being yanked to his feet. It was all he could do to hang limply as Sportsmaster shoved him up against the stone wall.

"Is that so? The big guy isn't even mentoring his own flesh and blood." The man laughed pitilessly and Conner longed to turn the painful pang in his gut into a good hard kick. The villain leaned in closer and Conner refused to flinch, instead meeting the man's eyes with a cold fury of his own. Sportsmaster spat out the next few words. "I. Don't. Believe. You."

Something like fear and defiance shot through Conner all at once as the man's eyes flashed dangerously as he dropped Conner, followed by a knee to his stomach which left him gasping for air. When he got his hands on this guy...

"Stop it!" Miss Martian's voice rang through the room. "He's telling the truth! The League doesn't tell us anything!"

This seemed to draw Sportsmaster's attention away from Conner, which for some reason sent off all sorts of alarm bells in his mind.

"Is that so girl?" Sportsmaster asked as he walked casually over to her. "Because my employer seems to think your little group of sidekicks knows a lot more then the general public."

Conner peeled his head away from the hard cement to see M'gann cowering as Sportsmaster towered over her. But her face was full of set determination. "The reason we formed our team was because the Justice League wouldn't trust us with their secrets. We can't tell you what we don't know."

"How convenient." Sportsmaster mused as he reached down to grab M'gann. Conner yanked at his chains again, furious.

"Wait!" He yelled without thinking, and Sportsmaster paused halfway through dragging Miss Martian to her feet. He needed to do something, anything to divert attention from her.

"I lied. I do know Supermans true identity."

"Superboy no!" M'gann gasped but he gave her a look that he hoped said play along. She frowned but fell silent.

Sportsmater dropped her and she fell to the ground limply as he strode back towards Superboy. Stopping in front of him, Sportsmaster lifted Conner's chin with the toe of his boot.

"Lets hear it then. Tell me his name!"

Clenching his fists tightly, Conner gathered his resolve and gazed back up at the man, knowing his response was going to mean a wold of pain. But at least the man's attention would be on him and not M'gann.

"Make me."

* * *

For what looked like an old abandoned piece of junk, this building was way more high tech then it let on. Hacking into its security was easy, as usual. But what Robin found once he was in made his head spin even more. Which was saying something. He scurried back to the trees, sticking close to the shadows to avoid any unwanted attention. As he slipped back into the cover of the prickly bushes, he was surprised to see Wally sitting on the ground, rifling through yet another unconscious guard's pockets.

Looking back at the noise, Wally's face flashed relief and he grinned at his friend. "This guy thought he could sneak up on us from behind, but we snuck up on him instead."

Robin nodded, impressed as Artemis dropped out from her hiding place in the above branches of an old looking pine. "How did you manage that with your leg?" He asked.

Wally's smile widened. "Wolf snuck up behind the guy, and I got him with the taser. Then Wolf dragged him back here so we could still keep a look out."

Robin punched his friend lightly on the shoulder as he and Artemis sat down and began helping him to tie the guy up.

"How about you Robin?" The Archer asked as she secured some hand cuffs around the man's wrists. "Find anything useful?"

"You have no idea. This place is more like a fortress then anything. But the majority of the security is gathered around a few rooms. I'll bet that's where they're storing the drugs if there actually are any."

"Or where the others are at?" Kid asked.

Robin nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Artemis said quickly, standing and dusting herself off before offering a hand to Wally. The surprised look on his face lasted only a second before he took it and she helped him onto Wolf's back once again.

"Nothing." Robin said, standing up himself. "Motion and heat sensors are deactivated, and security cameras are on a loop. So we need to move fast. There's a door we can get in through at the Northeast side of the building."

The others nodded and without another word they were off.

* * *

The first room they checked was disappointingly boring. Nothing but dusty shelves and cobwebs. The second and third were met with similar, unenthusiastic results. It wasn't until the fourth room, which they had ducked into to avoid a patrol of guards, that they found anything interesting.

The large rooms interior was stacked high with huge metal shipping containers, as if the area was being used for storage. The florescent lighting was dim and cast long shadows across the crates, but Wally was still clearly able to read the bold words stamped onto the dirty metal surfaces of the one nearest him.

DANGER EXPLOSIVES

"Uh, guys?" He whispered urgently. "Look at this."

The others, who were listening to the retreating steps of the guards, came over quietly to investigate.

"What do you think is in them?" Artemis asked.

"Dunno." Robin said thoughtfully. "Only one way to find out though."

Wally -who had dismounted Wolf and was leaning against another large crate- watched as Robin tested a few keys off the ring they had stolen from the guard on the heavy padlock keeping the container shut. It only took him a few tries to figure out that they didn't have the proper key for this particular lock. So Robin started picking at it. Luckily he kept lock pick equipment in his gloves, and it only took him seconds before a satisfying click announced that the crate was unlocked.

The three just stared at it for a few seconds, wary of what they might find inside. Finally Artemis let out a breath and stepped forward, digging her fingers between the groove of the door. The other two hurried to do the same. Rust and a lack of oil made it difficult to open, but finally the door slide to the side with a loud creak that made them all cringe, before eagerly leaned forward to investigate.

Wally had never seen so many guns in his life. And though he didn't know a great deal about fire arms, he could tell these weren't your average pistols.

"Not good." Robin breathed, climbing into the container to get a closer look. "I've seen these models before, but only in pictures.

"I'm guessing they're dangerous?" Kid Flash asked. "Well, more dangerous than usual."

Robin nodded. "Ever heard of semi armor piercing high explosive incendiary before?"

Wally blinked. "What?" He looked at Artemis for help but she simply shrugged.

"It's what happens when you mix armor piercing bullets with high explosives. And some black market weapons dealers have been trying to make that stuff mix with their own brand of hand gun."

"Like this?" Artemis asked, rummaging through one of many cardboard boxes piled at the back of the crate and pulling out a cartridge.

"Yes." He said grimacing. "And careful. That thing is highly combustible. There have been rumors floating around in the Gotham underworld. I know Batman has been investigating them for awhile now. If these weapons get on the streets and into common criminal hands, let's just say we won't be feeling the aster."

At that moment a low growl made them start and hurry to look out of the container. Wolf was at the door, his hair raised as he stood stock still.

"Come here Wolf!" Wally whispered urgently and the animal trotted over and managed with some difficulty to squeeze himself into the container with the others. Artemis had just managed to slide the door shut when footsteps followed by whispered voices entered the room.

Wally held his breath as he heard what sounded like two men walk around, and prayed they wouldn't notice that the crate he and the others were hiding in was conveniently missing a pad lock. He was unable to see his friends expressions in the nearly complete blackness, but he knew they were listening hard to the conversation going on feet away.

"...nt you dare call them!" An angry, high pitched male voice growled aggressively. "The last thing we need is our superiors to know what a mess this has become."

Whoever replied sounded gruff and harsh, and Wally made a mental note to stay away from its owner. His imagination was telling him this baddie had to be four hundred pounds of muscle. "But we have the sidekicks! The Justice League won't dare to act when we have them at our mercy."

The high pitched mans response was exasperated. "Yes, but we don't have all of them yet. And if they know it's taken us this long to capture three children, they will be furious. Especially seeing as we are storing the goods _here_!"

"Has Sportsmaster gotten anything out of the captives so far?"

"About their teammates? You know he hasn't." The high pitched voice hissed bitterly. "That's why I need to inform him to speed up the process. We can't afford to have the others escape and call their mentors. I don't care what methods he uses so long as he gets the job done."

The other voice grunted, seemingly disgusted. "This idea was his to begin with and he's being too soft. Give me five minutes with those brats and I'll have them spilling their guts in no time."

"Sportsmaster is easily qualified for the job. The man's just following orders." The first voice said carefully. "But I'm overriding them. True the children are no use to our employers dead, but if those kids escape, we're the ones that will be targeted. You understand?"

There was a pause.

"Yes."

A break in the conversation was followed by a jingle of keys as the steps came closer. Of course it was impossible to see, but Wally knew the others were staring at him with wide eyes through the blackness. They were crammed so tightly in the crate that he could feel the other two begin to tense in anticipation. But the steps suddenly stopped several paces from their hiding place as the sound of a lock clicking open told them they were safe. For now.

Wally, Artemis, and Robin listened as the two men rummaged through who knew what before the metal door slammed shut and the footsteps retreated without another word being spoken. Even after the door to the room closed, the three waited several seconds before speaking.

"We need to follow them!" Artemis whispered urgently. "You heard what they said, they'll lead us to the others!"

Shoving open the container's door, Robin peered around cautiously before stepping out. "Yeah, but if we're caught then it's game over. They're using us as collateral against the Justice League! I can't believe these idiots led us to where they were storing their merchandise."

Wally felt a hot surge of anger mix with the panic already flooding his system. "They're treating us like we're... exploitable! Like we can't take care of ourselves!"

Artemis nodded angrily, sliding an arrow from her sheath. "Let's go prove them wrong."

They looked at Robin who hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. "Okay but we need some sort of plan."

"We don't have time!" Wally insisted as Artemis helped him swing onto Wolf's back. "We'll make one up when we get there."

Robin shook his head. "If there's one thing Bats taught me, it's always, _always_ , have a plan."

Wally was getting impatient with worry. "Dude, that's great when you have time to _plan_ your plan, but we don't. You heard those guys. There _interrogating_ Miss M, and Supey, and Aqualad. I'd rather take my chances with the element of surprise then leave them to face... whatever they're facing!"

Robin turned to Artemis for support. She had been chastising Wally and him not long ago about running into danger blindly after all. But the archer looked troubled. "It's not like they're expecting us like last time," she said hesitantly, reading his expression. "What other choice do we have?"

Sighing, and very much aware of the time they were wasting, Robin bit his lip, torn. "Fine. But can we please not just burst in without thinking when we get there?"

"Dude!" Kid Flash exploded. "They could be torturing them! And-"

"I know KF!" Robin snapped. "And they'll keep torturing them and us if we're caught too!"

Wally couldn't help it! He was vibrating with nerves and he just wanted to move! "Fine!" He agreed. "Now can we go?"

Robin nodded and lead the way to the door, a bad feeling mixing with his pounding headache, which he worked hard to ignore.

* * *

What could she do? M'gann was sitting, chained to the floor, watching one of her best friends be beaten bloody, and she was helpless to stop it. The fire twisting above her head was radiating waves of heat, effectively stopping her from utilizing any powers. But the desperate helplessness that came with witnessing the strongest person she knew being hurt was tearing her apart. As Sportsmaster levered a painful sounding kick into Conner's ribs, she closed her eyes, unable to bare it any longer. Turning to Wotan, her eyes snapped open in rage, glowing green. The sorcerer faltered for a fraction of a second before he gathered himself and straightened with a look of infuriating superiority. M'gann felt a rush of heat, followed by an immediate decrease in energy. She shuddered, and her body slumped to the ground as tongues of flame swirled around her. Suddenly the savage beating going on in the background became little more then a distraction prickling at her consciousness as the world began to melt away.

She didn't know how long she had been lying there, but suddenly the frigid stone floor she was on became apparent. She fidgeted uncomfortably, but just then noticed people were shouting close by, and something in the back of her mind told her to remain still. She froze, barely breathing and listening hard.

"You would have killed them both you idiot!" A high angry voice was practically screaming.

"She was attempting to penetrate my mind. The situation called for greater measures." M'gann recognized this second voice as belonging to Wotan.

"Even so," The first voice continued angrily. "You should have stopped once she was no longer a threat. Continuing to expose both of them to that kind of heat was blatantly against my orders! They would have died and have been no further use to us."

"I did what I saw appropriate for the situation." Wotan countered.

"Then it's apparent you can't be trusted with a task such as this. Leave while me and Sportsmaster talk. I'll come to fetch you when we're done."

"As you wish," said Wotan, venom in his tone. M'gann shuddered.

There was a moment's silence followed by retreating footsteps and a door being shut gently. Processing what she had heard, M'gann noticed that the awful heat from the fire that had been twisting and turning above her was gone. Carefully she opened her eyes a fraction of a centimeter and peered over at Kaldur. He still lay deathly still, and a sliver of dread ran through her which she pushed to the back of her mind. She needed to focus, but it was hard. Her brain was still fuzzy. M'gann knew Sportsmaster and the newcomer were deep in muttered conversation, but she couldn't quite tell what they were saying. Finally there were footsteps and Sportsmaster's voice rang out loud enough for her to hear.

"This one will be out for a while," he said.

M'gann couldn't look because she didn't dare turn her head. But from where the voice was coming from, she knew they were talking about Superboy. Conner. Unconscious. A lump formed in her throat and she shut her eyes tight, determined not to give herself away, but...

"There, the Martian! She's awake!" The high pitched voice said suddenly.

"Perfect."

She stiffened involuntarily at the cruel voice as the man's footsteps came towards her. There wasn't any point in faking unconsciousness now that they had seen her, so she tried to back away. But her body refused to move, still to weak from its long exposure to so much heat.

"Meet me in room 2A when you've found out what we need to know." The newcomer's voice said. This was followed by a door swinging shut.

"Unlikely." Sportsmaster grumbled before a hand grabbed M'gann by her throat and before she knew it she was being pulled up as far as the chains would allow. Flinching at the iron grip, she looked up into the steely eyes of the mercenary.

"Hello beautiful." The man purred at her dangerously. "Your friends are on this island, and I want to know where they are. You saw what I did to your boyfriend back there I assume?" He jammed a thumb behind him and M'gann squinted to force her vision to focus. But all she could see was a figure lying in the shadows.

"So I'll make this nice and easy for you. Tell me what I want to know, or else what I did to him, I'll do to you. And when I'm done I think me and the kid are gonna go another round."

Summoning all her bravery, M'gann glared at Sportsmaster with as much malice as she could manage. "I already told you, I don't know anything."

She saw the fist before it even connected, but she couldn't help gasp as the air was knocked out of her with the impact to her stomach.

"I'm getting tired of that answer, and so is the man who's paying me. So you better tell me what I want to know or-"

Suddenly the door to the room burst open and M'gann turned her head away at the onslaught of light streaming from it. Blinking, she tried to make out what was happening as Sportsmaster dropped her to the floor, whirling around instantly.

"You!" He said sharply, his voice echoing eerily around the room.

"Let my friends go you scumbag!"

Lifting her head, M'gann took in a single breath, not daring to hope.

"W-Wally?"

The next moment there was an unmistakable bark, and M'gann saw a streak of white. This time she knew she couldn't be wrong.

Wolf! Her friends had come to rescue them! They were here!

Hope surged through her, and she pushed herself a fraction of an inch up off the cement, desperate to see what happened. Sportsmaster had charged forward and was trying to get a hit in on Wally, who was -M'gann had to blink- riding on Wolf? The two had positioned themselves between Sportsmaster and Superboy, and seemed to be working as a team, blocking the man from stepping any closer. Each time he tried, he was met with a combination of teeth and some kind of weapon Wally was holding.

What was going on? Where was Robin and Artemis?

M'gann tried to help Wally by attacking Sportsmaster mentally, but almost immediately she knew she was simply too weak to use any powers after being exposed to that kind of heat. She tried to push herself up shakily. If this was her only chance to escape, she would take it by helping Kid Flash in any way she could. But her arms shook violently and she could barely hold herself up.

Desperately trying to think of a way to help her friend, M'gann was just about to yell something at Sportsmaster to try and distract him when a hand slipped suddenly over her mouth and she screamed, though the sound was muffled.

"Shhhh," came a familiar voice from behind, and she looked around, her heart light.

Robin held a finger to his lips before removing his hand. She nodded and mouthed 'Robin' before smiling, nearly collapsing once again with relief. Then she remembered Aqualad and tried to gesture to him with a turn of her head, But Artemis was already kneeling by the Atlantean, trying to wake him. Robin began fiddling with the heavy metal cuffs around her wrists, and she tried to control her shaking and remain as still as possible for him.

Suddenly Kid Flash cried out and both her and Robin looked up sharply to see Wally clutching his arm as Wolf snapped at a quickly retreating Sportsmaster. But the man merely took a few steps back, a wickedly sharp hunting knife held tightly in his right hand.

Letting go of his now bleeding cut, Wally clenching a handful of Wolf's hair tightly while waving the weapon in his other hand around. "That was nothing!" He was saying loudly. "It'll take way more then that to take us down!"

Wolf growled in agreement, though M'gann could see him glancing quickly back at his unmoving master every few seconds. Though the shadows made it hard to tell, she was pretty sure Wally was scowling with pain.

A slight click and a tug on M'gann's arm told her Robin was ready to go. Wally's distraction wouldn't work for long, especially if he was hurt. Robin knelt down and slipped a hand around her back and under her shoulders before hauling her to her feet. It always amazed M'gann how strong he was despite his small stature, which was a very good thing seeing as she nearly fell over once she was standing. If only she had more time to recover.

Robin's gaze warned her to be quiet, though it wasn't as though she needed it. Together they snuck slowly to the right of the room, towards the still open door. Sportsmaster had begun ranting about how Kid Flash was simply a nuisance who could never dream of living up to his mentor. A recent favourite of the everyday baddie, which was conveniently covering up the nearly silent scuffing of their shoes and M'ganns laboured breathing. Wally was letting Sportsmaster get close to him before Wolf would bound away, insulting the villain the entire time.

"This is pathetic! I have a busted leg and you still can't catch me!"

"If you know what's good for you boy, you'll come quietly. Be smart. Your friends' lives are at my mercy."

"Is that supposed to be an evil villain threat. Because it was more like a pathetically lame threat."

Sportsmaster swung his knife at Wolf's chest but Wally kicked at the man's arm while Robin and M'gann slowly crept through the forgotten door to the right. As soon as they were outside. M'gann clutched Robin's arm.

"Go help Kid Flash!" She whispered, leaning against the wall and pushing Robin back towards the door. She thought he would argue, but apparently he was just as worried for his friend as she was, because the next moment he had slipped back into the room silently.

Slumping to the floor, M'gann attempted to regain her composure and felt herself slowly begin to recover. Maybe with a few more minutes of rest, she could help them escape. But for now, she simply hoped the deserted hallway she was sitting in stayed empty.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Line breaks! I thought we were friends. Why would you betray me like this? Whyyyy!?**

 **Yeah, I know I'm uploading this fast. But I just want to get the whole story out. It was never my intention to have an update schedule for each individual chapter.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

Chapter 3

It was the best plan they had been able to come up with at the time. But Robin had decided it was a horrible, stupid, ineffective one as events progressed. Originally, using Kid Flash's nearly uncontrollable anger upon seeing his friends in this way seemed brilliant on Artemis's part. She had suggested the idea, and Kid Flash had eagerly agreed before crashing through the door like an idiot. Simply being relieved that they had at least thought of something that wasn't bound to get them all immediately caught, Robin had went with it. This entire mission had pretty much degraded to the point where they used whichever strategy worked. This was strictly against Batman's protocols and Robin was beginning to think he hung around Wally too much.

Still, as he left Miss M to run back into the room where these monsters had been keeping his friends, he couldn't help but grin as he laid eyes on Wally. He was making Sportsmaster uncharacteristically angry. The man was starting to swing his knife wildly about, completely focused on Wally, and Robin was impressed to find that even without the use of one of his legs, Wally hadn't lost his ability to drive people absolutely nuts. Still, Wolf was getting tired, and so was Wally. The deadly blade was coming way to close to hitting both of them. So Robin decided to exercise a bit of rashness of his own. Glancing quickly back at Artemis who had picked her lock and was dragging a half conscious Atlantean on her back, Robin slipped as far away from her and the door as he could before he charged Sportsmaster from behind.

In the half second before Sportsmaster noticed him – too focus on making Kid Flash and Wolf bleed, Robin managed to stick him with the taser. A small smile of relief curved his mouth as he heard yet again the electricity from the weapon coursing through his opponent. Yet he didn't drop like the others had. Instead, Sportsmaster whirled around and actually grabbed Robin's hand, throwing him back and through the air where he hit the stone wall behind him with a concerning crack. Somewhere in his dazed mind, he hoped it was the wall.

Catching his breath, Robin looked up just in time to see Sportsmaster charging at him as he dropped to the ground and rolled to the right, springing up again to stand next to Wolf and Wally.

"What's wrong." He said once he saw the villain's murderous look. "Having difficulties outtruding the intruders?"

Apparently his and Wally's combined ability to irritate the man was paying off. Snapping, Sportsmaster charged at the two. Robin made to move out of the way, but remembering Conner at the last second, stood his ground with Wally and Wolf. Drawing the knife he had strapped to his thigh, he charged forward to meet Sportsmaster's blade with his own. Sportsmaster sidestepped and slashed at Robin, who easily ducked out of the way with a laugh. This was close enough to fighting with escrima sticks for him to feel relatively comfortable. He just had to be really, _really_ careful not to get hit.

"KF!" Robin said while his blade slide off of Sportsmaster's with a metallic ring. "Get that Kryptonite as far away from Superboy as you can!"

Wally didn't miss a beat. Leaning backwards, he snatched the Kryptonite out of the air, and immediately Wolf bounded to the door. He shouted a quick, "Be careful Rob!" But Sportsmaster made no attempts to follow him, instead focusing on Robin. An annoyingly smart move in Robin's opinion. He could have used the diversion.

The two stared at each other carefully, the atmosphere tense. Robin knew there was no way he could beat Sportsmaster one on one, especially without his belt. But if he could distract him long enough for Artemis to come and help, or for Superboy to recover enough to exact some much needed revenge, then he had to try.

As the reverberating silence was reaching its breaking point, Robin spoke. "I thought you were a big time criminal Sportsmaster. These people seem a little underwhelming for your style."

The man grunted from either anger or annoyance, Robin couldn't tell without a facial expression. "I work where there's money boy. And there's plenty of it around this dump."

"But black market weapons dealers. I thought you were better than that."

Sportsmaster narrowed his eyes, his whole body stiffening, as if ready to pounce. The man wanted to say something, that much was blatantly obvious. But instead he lowered his hand slowly sheathed his knife, and drew out, was that a fencing sword?

Clenching his own blade tightly, Robin glared at the man in front of him. Sportsmaster was already bigger and stronger than him, as much as he hated to admit it. If it was a question of open combat, he would win. And now he held a weapon with longer reach than Robin, which was a severe disadvantage.

Suddenly, Sportsmaster rushed forward, his saber slashing through the air, and Robin braced himself for a rough fight.

* * *

Kaldur was really heavy. And it didn't help that their leader was barely conscious. He stirred faintly when she had shaken him awake, but almost immediately slipped back into a dazed state.

"Come on Kaldur." Artemis hissed, dragging him out of the room as she saw Robin being thrown out of the corner of her eye. She needed to go back and help him! But _why_ did it have to be Sportsmaster again? Her dad tended to show up in the most inconvenient places, and she knew she became suspicious whenever her father was involved in a mission. She hated that. Artemis needed the team to trust her. Especially Wally. And trying to hide this kind of secret was becoming nearly impossible. How were you supposed to expect your team to trust you when you knew you were lying to them?

"Artemis!" M'gann whispered as she set Kaldur down as gently as possible beside her.

"How ya doing Miss M?" Artemis asked, her voice barely more then a whisper as she looked around the thankfully deserted hall. Her, Robin and Wally had nearly been caught minutes ago when Wotan of all people came striding past, and then the short high pitched scientist guy right after him. They had only managed to avoid them by slipping into another storage room.

"I'll be okay. How's Aqualad?"

"Dehydrated I think. We need to get him back to the ship."

M'gann sighed. "I wish I could call it from here. But even if I could use my powers, there's no way I'd be able to establish a link at this distance."

They had to make a silent note to keep the Bioship in places that were more accessible. Artemis could see being able to use it to get out of range of the jammer and contact the Justice League if it hadn't been hiding in the ocean.

M'gann looked up to meet Artemis's eyes, but Artemis had frozen, and something in her expression must have caught M'ganns attention. Turning quickly, M'gann gasped as she saw guards standing at the end of the hallway facing them. The look of shock on their own faces was suddenly morphing to panic, then urgency as they raced towards the group. M'gann tried to push herself to her feet, but Artemis already had an arrow drawn on her string and, taking a split second to aim, she shot the weapon at the feet of the quickly approaching men. Immediately they stumbled, and all seemed to fall at once. Artemis watched them hit the floor and skid forward while thrashing around with the net she had trapped them in.

One of the men had drawn a knife and was already cutting at the wire mesh. At first Artemis snorted, knowing those nets were practically impossible to escape. Then to her utter horror, the first metal wire snapped under the knife's pressure with a quiet twang. Alarmed she ran forward, planning to knock them all out for good measure before taking away their weapons. But the other two were drawing guns, and she immediately doubled back, instinctively putting herself between her friends and the guards. Something white flashed by her and she looked up in time to see Wolf sprinting past, Wally crouched low on his back. The next second Wolf had clamped his teeth down on the hand of the man with the knife, causing him to scream in pain while Wally kicked a gun out of one of the other man's hands. The third man had just maneuvered his gun to aim at Wally's back, and Artemis acted without thinking, her arrow flying to wrench the gun out of the other's hand just as he had pulled the trigger. The gun went off with a resounding bang, but it had shot at the ceiling instead of her teammate. The next moment Wolf had bitten that man's hand as well and Artemis sighted inwardly with relief.

KF turned to flash her a cocky grin, and it was then that Artemis realized he had something bright and glowing green clutched in his left hand. _The Kryptonite!_

"Thanks for the save Arte-" Wally called before Wolf growled and took off again. Artemis blinked for a second before registering that the guy's under the net were still conscious and calling for help. Great. One of them was even speaking into a radio. Why did this team of theirs suck so much at being covert?

With that final thought and a glance back to make sure her friends were still safe, Artemis ran forward to shut the guys up while simultaneously trying to form a plan for when their reinforcements arrived.

* * *

Wolf's paws slide on the hard cement floor as the huge creature ran full out to get far, far away from his master. Once or twice Wally had almost lost his grip on him, but refused to tell Wolf to slow down. Apparently Kryptonite effected Conner just as much as it did Superman, and Wally could still see the vivid image of Superboy lying beaten and bloody on the greyish cement. The scene was still proving hard to accept.

These idiots were going to have another thing coming if Conner recovered. _When_ , when Conner recovered. Because his friend would be fine now that the Kryptonite was gone. And Wally planned to throw this stuff straight off the rocky cliffs and into the unforgiving ocean.

But of course he just had to get distracted. Wolf was bounding down hallways – Wally assumed he was avoiding guards because they definitely weren't going the way they came in – when a bright flash of yellow caught his eye and he pulled on Wolf's fur slightly. The animal didn't want to stop, but Wally tugged at Wolf this time, and they slowed. Using his hands to guide Wolf, they turned and trotted up to a partially closed door, and Wally was sure of it. Robin's belt!

Voices were floating out from the gap in the doorway, and Wally immediately stiffened, recognizing the high pitched voice from earlier.

"Did you hear that? What was it?"

There was a pause. "Don't know. Not a guard. None of my men were ordered to patrol this hallway."

Wally recognized that voice too! It was exactly how the 400 pounds of muscle guy sounded in the storage room.

"Go check the hallway."

Wally stiffened. _Crap_.

Footsteps approached, and he needed to make a split second decision. Well, he knew he was good at being impulsive so...

The door opened fully and Wally hit the guy hard in the face. Muscle head stumbled back, and Wolf launched himself at the man, grabbing him in his enormous jaws and throwing him savagely to the left. The guard, who had a considerable amount of bulk as Wally had guessed, stumbled slightly, but pivoted and used the momentum to smash a fist into Wolf's muzzle. The animal yelped and snarled before jumping forward again. Muscle head recovered from the first hit, and charged at them. Even from Wally's vantage point atop Wolf's back, the bald head of the man came up to his chest.

Since Wally had the Kryptonite in one hand and was clutching Wolfs fur with the other, there was little he could do in terms of attacking. But he did manage to kick Muscle head's side as Wolf jumped to the right to avoid the charging guard. Stumbling, Muscle head turned just in time to meet Wolf again as the creature headbutted him with all his super enhanced strength in the chest. Muscle head went flying into a table piled high with what looked to be lab equipment. Wally heard the tinkle of breaking glass and watched as the man hit the ground hard. He waited for him to rise, but the guy stayed down. Wally had to remind himself then that as menacing as this man looked, he probably wasn't a meta, meaning he stood no chance against a creature like Wolf.

"Good boy." Wally said, looking down at Wolf who was breathing hard and letting out a low growl.

Okay, that went well, what next?

Now that he had time to look around, Wally realized he was in some sort of lab. Computers and sophisticated hardware littered the place. He saw the belt, he saw the skinny weedy high voiced man he had followed earlier, and he saw Wotan standing in the corner, glaring at Wally darkly. He also happened to notice a small jammer clipped onto the scientist's belt.

The silence stretched on as Wally thought furiously. Get the belt and stop the jamming signal while taking on the wizard, or hightail it out of there?

Yeah, that second part really wasn't his style. And to his great surprise, a plan kinda just formed in his head when he took another glimpse at the wizard glaring at him. The fact that the man hadn't moved yet, and his mutinous expression made it possible...maybe.

"I've already called in the Justice League!" Wally blurted out to the room at large. The desired effect was instantaneous.

"What!?" The scientist yelled, his expression twisting with fear and rage! But he calmed down almost immediately, his voice lowering to forced calm. "You're lying. Nice try baby flash, but that's impossible."

Wally noticed the desperation strung in with the man's words and pounced.

"That's what you think! You guys thought you were so smart, blocking our comms, but we have our Bioship. Artemis took it forever ago and contacted the League! And they'll be here any minute to kick your butts!"

"That's impossible!" The scientist snapped, "The patrols would have seen an aircraft, and radars would have picked up unexpected air traffic."

"Yeah. But I bet you weren't using sonar to track in the ocean. You're more stupid than you look if you don't even know that Bioships can travel underwater!"

The man clenched the edge of the desk he was standing behind, his eyes now locked on Kid Flash. Bracing himself, Wally stared the man straight in the eye before turning to the wizard who had remained stoically silent in the corner.

"I don't know how you escaped Belle Reve, but I'm sure the Justice League would just love to put you back in. So whats it gonna be, stay with these losers and deal with us until the big guns show up, or book it out of here while you still have the chance?"

Wotan's eyes narrowed dangerously. Wally was just deciding he had pushed the man too far when the small scientist spoke up.

"Don't you dare leave Sorcerer. My superiors will kill us all for any act of disloyalty. Running would be foolish. Stop this nonsense and get the boy."

Finally Woton spoke, though his voice was cold as he addressed not Kid Flash, but the other man. "It amuses me how you people think you can control me. I was never loyal to you, or your higher ups."

He then turned back to Kid Flash, leaving the scrawny scientist guy shaking with either rage or fright, it was hard to tell. "You have a point boy. I have no wish to be intercepted by the Justice League. Be that as it may-"

There was a small click and both Wally and Wotan turned to see the scientist holding a gun aimed at Wotan. Wally was alarmed to see that the weapon looked hauntingly familiar. The kind Robin ensured were highly dangerous just minutes ago. "Who will keep the prisoners in check!? We had very specific instructions. I demand you stay _right_ here while we evacuate the island!"

Wotan's stare was like ice as he froze, then slowly straightened up from his slouched position against the wall. "You dare..." he said quietly, then, "you dare threaten me?" The man's eyes flashed. "Sepor, dnib siht nam."

Immediately the scientist gasped and took several steps back as thick ropes appeared from thin air, weaving themselves around him. He fell backyards with a yelp, the gun clattering to the floor.

"You!" The scientist squeaked. "When my superiors hear of this-"

"Gag mih."

Immediately the scientists shouts were turned to muffled cries of outrage.

Wally was stock still as Wotan then turned to him. "Llet eht hturt."

"I lied." The words were out before he could even think of stopping them. Gritting his teeth, Wally stiffened immediately. Fighting Wotan now would really suck.

But, the wizard just stared at Wally for a few seconds before smirking. "I suppose I owe you one boy. I needed a reason to take care of the scientist. I only wish I could dispose of him."

Wally frowned, searching Wotan's face, but his expression was passively neutral.

"These men are working with Bialya. Tell your mentors. That should keep them busy for a while, no? And do _not_ follow me."

With those parting words Wotan strolled from the room, not glancing back at Kid Flash, who evidently had been holding his breath nearly the entire time. He breathed gratefully, his aching lungs relishing the air. Why Wotan hadn't mumbled some gibberish and fried him with advanced physics was anybody's guess. But there would be time to mull that over later. Wally directed Wolf to trot to the downed scientist before slipping off the animal's back. The man's eyes widened and he squirmed as Kid gingerly knelt down next to him, but Wally merely reached for the small jamming device attached to the guy's belt.

"Seriously? You guys are selling super advanced hybrid weapons, but you use something as old fashioned as this?" Wally said, standing up and throwing the device behind him. Wolf caught it in his jaws and crushed it, sending sparks flying in all directions. The scientist mumbled something angrily, but Wally simply shrugged and limped over to fetch Robin's belt from its place amongst the gadgets spread out on the shelves around him. He was careful how he held it though. Didn't want to end up fried like that guard.

"Well," Wally said, as he limped the few steps back to Wolf. "It's been fun and all, but I have a priceless chunk of Kryptonite to dispose of."

He left the scientist writhing and yelling muffled threats as he and Wolf raced from the room, Robin's belt slung over his shoulder. Man he really wanted to ignore his better judgment and mess with the thing. Instead, he put his finger to his ear, and was met with blessed silence rather then the buzz of static.

"Kid Flash calling Justice league. HOJ slash Watchtower, B03, Priority red!"

"This is Batman. Report." The immediate response nearly made him jump and fall from Wolf.

"Batman!" Wally said just as Wolf veered around a corner, nearly bowling over two guards and then flying straight through the door behind them, bursting into the fresh air. They immediately opened fire and Wally pulled on Wolf's fur so they could make a bee line to the cover of the forest. Taking a deep breath he tried again, hoping Batman could hear him over the gunfire in the background.

"Batman, we've been compromised! Superboy, Miss Martian and Aqualad are injured! Requesting immediate backup!"

"Understood. Summarize the situation."

Kid Flash paused slightly, thinking of the best way to condense the nights events. "Well, it was a set up from the beginning. Aqualad, Miss M, and Superboy were captured. Me, Robin and Artemis escaped. We uncovered that the premises has illegal experimental weapons. And apparently they're working with Bialyan forces!"

Something that Wally feared and loved about Batman was that he was straight to the point, never asked too many questions when time was tight. "Understood, we're tracking your coordinates now, and sending reinforcements. Hold on until then."

"Got it! Thanks."

"Batman out."

And with that the channel went silent once again.

Clenching the chunk of Kryptonite in his hand as Wolf raced through the forest, it suddenly struck Wally that it was odd his friends were remaining quite now that the comms were back up.

"Uh, guys, you catch all that?" he asked, putting a hand up to his ear to make sure the frequency was correct. But no one replied. Instead, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge shock wave of heat knocked Wolf off his feet and both he and Wally went tumbling into the mud as the sound of an explosions roared behind them. The Kryptonite went flying out of his grasp, and Wally had to lay on the mossy forest floor for a second to catch his breath, but then spat the dirt out of his mouth and pushed himself up gingerly. What just happened?

Panic immediately started to take hold in his chest as Wally tried to stand, forgetting his bad leg. It throbbed horribly when he put pressure on it and he found himself nearly falling over before he caught himself on a near by tree trunk. Shakily he looked up and saw through the trees, a mass of glowing fiery wreckage where the building and his friends used to be.

 _No._

"K-Kid Flash to Watchtower." He said weakly, placing his hand to his communicator.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N My Beta Loxare has informed me that Fan fiction always takes away line breaks and you must put them in manually. I never knew this. The more you learn eh? I'm sure I'll get to that eventually. But while I'm on the subject, a big thanks to Loxare for betaing all my work. It would be terrifying without her.**

 **Sorry for the cliff hanger last chapter. I actually intended to put this up Friday night, but... well, lets just say that was a crazy night involving me being a pedestrian very close to being shot. And if you didn't know, witness statements take hours.**

 **Anyhow, please read and enjoy!**

 **Beta Edit: Line breaks added! Yay! If you got two notifications for this, just ignore that second one.**

Chapter 4

Conner was floating blissfully in a cloud of nothingness. He decided just staying here was okay, if anything it was comfortable. And something told him that was important. Yeah, he liked it here. It was calm and quiet.

But he also heard something far far away, nagging at his consciousness. He didn't really feel like caring though. He was so content. Or was he? Wait. No, something wasn't right. In fact, something was very wrong.

Senses started flooding back to Conner all at once. The dark dank air, the cold hard floor, the dull ace of his bettered body, and something else? Gathering his strength, Conner forced himself out of the recesses of blissfulness and snapped his eyes open. His senses were on full alert, but why?

Someone was coughing and choking, there was a metallic clattering as an object fell to the floor. A gruff short laugh made Conner clench his teeth. And he could hear two heartbeats. One was fast and wild, the other was also elevated, but much less frantic.

Blinking away the last vestiges of sleep, Conner pushed himself up in a second, hoping he was wrong. _Please be wrong!_ His metal cuffs snapped like plastic as he stumbled to his feet and laid eyes on Robin and Sportsmaster.

Robin was kicking furiously, choking and desperately trying to take a breath. Sportsmaster had a hand clamped tightly around his friend's throat, while the tip of a fencing sword was dangerously close to Robin's left eye. A knife was laying forgotten on the floor by Sportsmaster's feet. And blood was dripping from wounds on both of them. Sportsmaster had a particularly nasty cut across his bicep, while Robin had blood running down his face from a deep gash.

Before the rage resonating through Conner was able to make itself known in the form of _extreme_ violence, Robin had grabbed Sportsmaster's arm with both hands and swung his feet forward for a hard kick aimed at the mans solar plexsis. It did the trick. Sportsmaster gasped and took a step back, his hand loosening enough for Robin to slip out of the choke hold and fall gasping and spluttering to the floor. Sportsmaster made to attack Robin while he was down, but Conner had already pushed off of the ground and clenched his fist as he flew through the air.

"Don't you dare touch him!" He yelled as he connected solidly with Sportsmaster's face, the impact sending the villain reeling.

"Supey!" Robin gasped from where he was wheezing on the floor. "Glad to see you up! You okay?"

Conner glanced down at his young comrade who was wiping blood from his face. "I will be." He practically snarled. "Once I'm finished with him." He jabbed a finger to where Sportsmater was now straightening up, looking cautious but not all together frightened.

"I suppose that's that then." He inclined his head. "I had fun playing with you kiddies, but orders are orders after all."

Sportsmaster reached into one of his pockets, making both Robin and Superboy tense, but instead of a weapon, he pulled out a small red cylindrical object.

"What are you-" Robin started to ask, but Sportsmaster had already pressed down on the object, which emitted a small beep in response.

"Remote detonators. All over this facility. And they're gonna blow in 180 seconds. So I suggest you get out of here while you have the chance."

Robin looked troubled beside Conner, who was itching to attack. But he stayed back, working hard to control his anger. "Why blow this place up?" Robin asked. "I've seen the weapons, there's millions of dollars in merchandise!?"

"Lets just say the people I work for don't want any nasty repercussions. Oh, and one hundred and forty five seconds."

Just then, gunfire erupted in the background and Conner caught Robin's eye. Robin probably realized Conner's intention from his expression, because he whispered "Don't." But Conner didn't really hear him. Not when the man who had just hurt him and his friends was about to get away.

"Go help the others!" He heard himself say robotically before he leapt at Sportsmaster, who drew his knife again with a flourish.

* * *

On one hand, Conner was his friend, his teammate even. On the other, the guy had super strength, and could probably survive an explosion with hardly a scratch now that Kryptonite wasn't involved. Robin couldn't waste time. Not when his teammates didn't know about the supposed explosives that were set to go off in seconds. Making his decision, he irritably turned away from Superboy who was throwing punch after punch at Sportsmaster, and set off in the direction of the gunfire. The room suddenly tilted and he staggered, scowling and trying to wipe the blood away from his mask. His balance had gotten steadily better until Sportsmaster had got that lucky hit in with his stupid sword. Who the heck used swords any more? Well, Wonder Woman but that was beyond the point.

Finding his feet again, Robin sprinted for the door. There couldn't be much time left. As soon as he stepped into the hall however, he was pulled down to his knees and looked over to see M'gann. She looked better, less pale and more her normal shade of healthy green.

Robin was just about to ask her what was happening when a stray bullet flew alarmingly close to his ear and he looked up in time to see Artemis fighting in close combat with at least five guards. It was a smart move seeing as they wouldn't shoot if she stayed near enough that hitting their comrades was a possibility. The one who had just taken a shot at him was now being kicked in the stomach while his gun was wrenched out of his hands. But already the other guards were closing in around Artemis. There was no way she could take them all!

Robin was flipping forwards before M'gann could stop him. Maybe not his best idea as his stomach lurched dangerously. A bullet flew past him yet again but he ignored it, launching himself feet first into one of the guard's back. The woman stumbled forward, and Robin caught himself on his hands before delivering a spinning kick. The guard fell, but two more stepped forward to take her place.

"Artemis!" Robin exclaimed while ducking to avoid a taser before catching the man's arm in his. "Bombs are set to go off in about a minute! We have to go!"

Smacking a man in the face with the shaft of her bow, Artemis turned quickly to stare at Robin disbelievingly before returning to the fight so as not to get stabbed by the guard nearest to her. "You set bombs!?"

"Not me, Sportsmaster!" A man who swung his fist at Robin suddenly found himself on his back. The guards had to have heard, why were they still fighting?

Except from the looks in their eyes, they didn't believe Robin. Not one iota.

Artemis blocked another kick before punching her opponent hard. "Wait, why? He's working for these guys right?"

Robin shrugged before flipping over a guard who had tried to grab him. "I'm not so sure actually." He landed behind the man before Artemis took him out while he was distracted. He had been the last, but footsteps could be heard echoing from further down the hallway as the two stood up and observed their handywork. "But right now we need cover so we can get out of here."

"Can't you just-... oh right! No belt! I'm on it!"

Nodding, Robin turned and started sprinting back to M'gann and Kaldur while Artemis drew an arrow. M'gann was already looking much better, her eyes shining defiantly. But she was leaning over Kaldur worriedly, and her expression was concerned as she looked up at Robin.

"He's dehydrated. We really need to get him back to the ship."

"Agreed." Robin said, kneeling down to slip one of Aqualad's arms over his shoulder. "Especially since this place is supposedly gonna blow sky high in a matter of seconds!"

M'gann gasped. "What! Blow up?"

"Yes, Sportsmaster said so. Can you stand on your own?"

M'gann nodded and pushed herself shakily to her feet. Robin followed, dragging Kaldur's limp form with him. Thick smoke was already filling the hall as the two took their first step forward and were met by Artemis, who immediately ducked down and slipped under Kaldur's other arm.

"The guards might not be able to see us," She whispered. "But that doesn't mean they're not swarming all over the place.

"I can sense them." M'gann added quickly as she leaned slightly against the wall to help her walk. "My powers are starting to return."

Robin nodded as they moved deeper into the smoke. "Alright, tell me if we're gonna walk into one."

"Wait!" M'gann gasped. "Conner!"

"He's okay." Robin hissed. "He's feeling up to taking on Sportsmaster so I guess KF got rid of the Krypto-"

Immediately behind them there was a crash and something came flying through the air, disrupting the swirling clouds of smoke.

"Superboy!" M'gann cried as he landed roughly beside her. "Are you-"

"Fine." He interrupted, anger apparent in his tone. "Sportsmaster got away."

"Conner, help M'gann. She's still weak." Robin said urgently, the statement earning him a glare from the clone. But he slipped an arm around M'gann. They then continued forward, listening hard for guards.

"How much time do we have left?" Artemis asked breathlessly after they had gone a ways.

"I don't know! Seconds!" And for the first time, it hit Robin that they might actually not escape in time. Definitely not at the pace they were going.

"Guard, four o'clock." M'gann said suddenly. Artemis had been waiting and shot an already loaded arrow in the direction. A satisfying, "Ouff," telling them all she had hit her target.

They weren't going to escape. They weren't. That was a fact the way things were going. They needed a way to get out before the explosions if Sportsmaster was actually telling the truth. But they couldn't take the chance that he wasn't. How could they get out of this alive.

Think Robin _think_!

"Artemis!" He said quickly as he stopped suddenly. She looked over at him and he could barely see her face through the mist. "Please, don't argue, just shoot an explosive arrow at the ceiling behind us."

Looking confused, but nodding, Artemis plucked an arrow from her quiver and turned around carefully while balancing Kaldur's weight on her shoulders.

"Robin, what are you-" Conner was saying. But he was cut off as the arrow exploded in a ball of fire, wood, plaster, and metal that fell away from the roof behind them. The fog started rushing into the fresh air and they could all make out the inky black sky now visible behind them.

"Superboy!" Robin said quickly, "Take M'gann and Aqualad and go! Get as far away from here as you can."

Superboy stared at him for a second before his eyes widened. "And what about you and Artemis?"

"We'll be right behind you!" Robin's internal clock was telling him there was seconds left and his panic and worry for his friends was screaming at him. "Just go, there's no time!"

Conner hesitated for a fraction of a second before he put an arm around M'gann's waist and then walking the few steps to Aqualad, puting his other around the Atlantean. He turned to their modified escape route in the ceiling, preparing to jump, but then he looked back at Robin and Artemis. It was the first time Robin ever saw him look truly scared.

"Go!" He yelled urgently and Conner launched into the air. It could have been that he was still recovering from the effects of exposure to Kryptonite, or that he had two other people weighing him down, but he only just made it to the top of the roof before landing and then jumping again, vanishing from sight.

"That was a good idea." Artemis said shakily. "They'll be okay right? You know, Wally too?"

"I hope so."

They both sounded scared.

"You have a grappling arrow on you?"

"No, didn't think I'd need one for this mission. Stocked up on explosives instead"

Robin nodded. He had been expecting that. He had never actually seen Artemis use a grappling arrow, but he knew Green Arrow had them. How many times had Batman drilled it into his head to always be prepared. Apparently this was proof that his mentor's paranoia was justified.

The two stood still for a second, looking up at the starry sky blinking two stories above them.

Robin was just thinking that they needed to find someplace that would provide at least basic cover when he heard the first explosion go off. Training kicking in, he grabbed Artemis and pulled her down, wrapping her partially in his cape. It would at the very least protect against burns.

The ground shook, the sound of fire balls erupting to life around them was defining, though Robin could still hear Artemis screaming, and then the cracking of stone and screech of metal supports splintering was the last thing that either of them registered before total blackness.

* * *

The shock wave hit Conner in mid air, and M'gann could immediately feel the difference. One second it was like they were flying through the cool night, and the next they were spinning out of control as heat assaulted them from behind. But despite the fire, M'gann felt something cold settle inside her as Conner tightened his grip to make sure she wasn't thrust out of his arm. They had barely escaped the blast. In reality they hadn't actually escaped if the heat was any indicator. So what about Artemis and Robin? There wasn't any way they had gotten out in time, was there?

Conner hit the ground hard, taking most of the impact, but M'gann still found herself being flung painfully across the dirt before skidding to a stop. She coughed as the taste of ash and smoke assaulted her lungs, and pushed herself up shakily. The heat was already making her feel sick.

"M'gann!" Superboy called from what sounded very far away.

"I'm okay!" She called back, looking around for both Superboy and Aqualad. But thick black smoke and dust was now smothering them as bits of flaming debris fell to the ground all around her.

"Superboy!" She called. "Where are you?"

And then he was right next to her, kneeling down with an uncharacteristically concerned look on his face.

"You're not hurt?" He asked.

"No." She said coughing as she choked slightly on the dust. "But, Conner..." And now her voice was shaking. "Robin and Artemis and Wally." She could feel her eyes stinging slightly at the thought of her teammates being trapped in the flaming pile of debris before her.

Conner didn't say anything, just put a hand around her shoulder comfortingly. She took several shaky breaths, trying to get a hold of herself for the second time tonight. No way was she going to break down in the middle of a mission. Right now her friends needed her. If she was going to cry, she would do it when all of this was over.

"Wait, KF is that you?" M'gann looked up at Conner's voice and saw that he had a hand to his communicator, which was confusing. She had tried to use hers while being held captive and found that it wasn't working properly. Reaching up to turn it on so she could listen into the entire conversation, she found that her communicator wasn't there. Maybe it was lost in the explosion?

Conner's shoulders suddenly sagged in relief and M'gann felt a small ray of hope. If Wally was okay, that was something.

"Yeah, I thought I heard you right before the explosives went off. Are you okay?" Superboy asked.

M'gann watched Conner's face for a reaction as lights flickered in front of him from the fire, making his features obscure. Whatever Wally was saying must have been good news, because Conner closed his eyes and sighed. "Okay... yes, me, M'gann and Aqualad escaped in time too."

He paused to listen.

"...No, they're not with us. They... were in the building last we saw-"

Conner flinched and even M'gann could here the blaring " _WHAT_?!" from Conner's communicator.

Rubbing his ear, Conner expanded on the situation. "Robin told us to go. Said he and Artemis were coming right behind us."

"..."

"Yeah, I know he didn't have his bel..." Conner trailed off, his expression changing from annoyed to unsure. He paused again, supposedly to let Kid Flash talk.

"Yeah, I know!" he growled, though M'gann could see his face was turning pale. "Fine, I'll start looking."

Another moment where Conner's now tense features relaxed slightly again. "You got through?... Yeah...okay, I'm going now."

Lowering his hand, Conner looked over at M'gann.

"The Justice League is on its way. If Robin and Artemis are trapped, I have to find them."

She nodded, already pushing herself up. "I'll help. My powers are getting stronger. "

Conner hesitated, pausing. "What about Aqualad?"

M'gann nearly slapped her forehead with the realization. Hello Megan! How could she forgot! "Where-?" But already she saw him as her eyes adjusted to the flickering lighting, a dark silhouette splayed out on the ground feet away. He was mumbling and still breathing heavily. The explosion couldn't have helped improve his condition.

"I can listen for Robin and Artemis's heartbeats, and the fire won't hurt me like it will you. And I think Aqualad needs help." Conner said.

M'gann really didn't want to agree, but Conner was right. It was obvious Aqualad was in serious need of fluids, which they had on the Bioship. She had seen him like this before at the Bialyan dessert. And suddenly concern for all of her friend made her start to tremble.

Conner put a hand around her shoulder again. "I'll find them." He said simply, then waited for her to nod before jumping back towards the flaming inferno in front of them. M'gann wasn't sure how Conner would react to the heat, especially after his long exposure to the Kryptonite. But she suspected he would be okay. She hoped.

M'gann turned and walked quickly over to Kaldur. Yes, she was still weak, but Aqualad needed her. This was her job and she was going to do it, ill or not. Holding her hand out in front of her, she took a few steadying breaths before lifting Aqualad into the air. They would travel together until they were in range of the Bioship hidden under the waves to the North of the island. She would get Aqualad the help he needed, and then come back to assist Conner in the search if he hadn't found anything yet. The Bioship could protect her from the fire, and she could search telepathically for Artemis and Robin. Her powers should be sufficiently recovered by then.

M'gann started walking forward, gently transporting Aqulad as she went. She couldn't afford to waste time thinking, she just had to go.

* * *

To say he was freaking out was probably an understatement. Rob, his best friend since forever, and Artemis, the annoyingly admirable teammate who had saved his butt more times then he would ever publicly admit, were both caught in that explosion. Wally didn't even know why the building had gone up in flames, but he knew that the ammunition that these people had been storing would make an extremely powerful and deadly detonation. Wally swallowed painfully. It had been a huge explosion, flames and smoke were still reaching high into the sky in some places. He could see it easily from where he was racing back through the trees towards the building. They weren't going quite as fast as Kid Flash would have liked, but Wolf had cut his foot pretty badly when they had fallen. After deciding to leave the Kryptonite where it fell and go back, Wally had offered to walk, which was met with a growl from Wolf. He was really starting to like this dog. So now they were heading back towards what was left of the building, Wolf limping slightly as they went.

The same thoughts kept running through Wally's head as they came closer and closer and he could see the full extent of the destruction. Could they have survived? It's not like either of them had superpowers to give them a fighting chance. There was only so much anyone could do when caught in this kind of an explosion. Especially Robin. His friend was so tiny that Wally could easily see him being crushed to death in a second.

That thought made Wally sick, and he grimaced as he and Wolf made their way out of the tree line and into the flickering light of the crumbling compound. Wally clenched Wolf's fur and took a few steadying breaths. He had to get his head in the game. His friends were fine. Robin and Artemis were some of the strongest people he knew, powers or not. And it would take a hell of a lot more then a few stupid explosions to take them out. They would be okay. They would!

Wally kept chanting that to himself as Wolf came to a stop about 100 yards from the debris. Wally looked out at the destruction in front of him with a sinking heart. Twisted metal wire and piping, slabs of crumbling concrete, electrical wire sparking feebly, it was like a nightmare.

 _They're going to be okay._

Wally wanted to rush in and start tearing apart the smoldering remains, but already he could feel the heat burning his bare skin from this distance. Maybe he could go to an area where there wasn't so much fire and search there. Yeah, it was a start.

He guided Wolf to start running around the perimeter while putting his hand to his comm once more. He hadn't seen Superboy through all the fire and smoke, but he could at least ask his friend if he had found anything.

"Supey, how's it going?"

"Nothing yet." Short and to the point. Totally Superboy's style and totally not enough information to satisfy Wally.

"Can you find them with your hearing or anything? Ya know, listen for heartbeats or coughing or something?"

Superboy's response sounded annoyed. "That's what I'm doing, but there's so much noise with the fire and collapsing building that I can't really tell. Just let me work!"

Wally scowled but didn't talk again, instead focusing on searching for a good place to begin searching. It was pretty obvious where the main detonators had been placed. All that remained of them were streams of fire and ash. Searching there was pointless, nothing would be left. With any luck Robin and Artemis would have been running through the halls, trying to get out. But where even were the hallways? The building was so utterly destroyed that it was unrecognizable.

Growling, Kid Flash directed Wolf to some twisted smoking metal that looked like it could have been a door at some point. They would start here and search fast. Wally didn't care if he had to dig up every mound of rubble in this place. He would find his friends, and for their sake, sooner rather then later.

* * *

Pain. More intense then she had ever felt before. It was way to much to take all at once and Artemis writhed as it consumed her senses as she was forced into consciousness. Her leg was aching horribly, a nervy sickening ach she had come to associate with broken bones. She tried to open her eyes, to sit up, but the effort made her groan and lay still. Her brain started working furiously. Every breath hurt, and she noticed her lungs were stinging. Not only that, but she couldn't hear anything. Desperately she tried to say something, but there was no sound. Well, her throat was dry, maybe if she swallowed and tried again?

"Hello?"

Yes, that time she thought she could hear herself, but that made her notice that she was also hearing some kind of ringing. A high pitched sound that made her want to clench her teeth and put her hands over her ears. That raised the question, could she even move her arms? She tried. Instead of being met with movement, ripples of agonizing pain shot down her left arm, and her right, though not particularly painful, wouldn't move.

Okay, this was just scary. Why couldn't she move her arms. What was wrong with them. What was wrong with her? Since she was feeling a bit less light headed now, Artemis tried once again to open her eyes. Fears she didn't even realize she had came to life as soon as she did. She was still met with blackness! Everything was completely dark! She couldn't see!

Suddenly the world felt like it was beginning to shrink, and Artemis reacted on instinct. Despite her bodies obvious protests, she began to thrash around, trying to get her arms, her legs anything to move. Waves of agony shot through her, making her sob. She couldn't breathe or hear or move or see! Pain was assaulting her from every direction and the world started spinning despite the fact that she was held in place.

Then, out of no where, someone said something, or at least Artemis thought they did. She immediately stopped moving, though she found she was still trembling. The fact that her ears were ringing was much more noticeable, but it seemed to be quieting down a bit. Had she really heard anyone? Feeling desperate she fought down another sob before speaking. Her throat was dry and a bit sore.

"W-what?"

"I said, stop moving around so much. You'll make everything collapse."

"Robin!?"

Hearing a familiar voice was so overwhelmingly welcome that Artemis sagged with relief. She wasn't alone!

"Yeah. How ya holding up Artie?"

"I-" Artemis paused. "Robin, are you okay?" He definitely sounded weird. Off somehow.

"Fine, how about you?"

"I'm hurt I think. And I can't move."

Robin sighed. "Me either. Not really feeling the aster."

And there it was again. Robin's voice was kinda breathless.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Uh, the compound with all the illegal weapons. Remember?"

It was like a movie was going off in Artemis's head, showcasing all the events of the night in vivid detail. She shuddered.

"So," she said carefully. "The explosives went off?"

"Yeah," Robin said weakly.

"And now we're trapped under whatever is left of the building.

"Uh huh."

"Crap."

"..."

"Robin?"

There was another pause. "Sorry Artie – I'm just, tired."

It was like something cold was trickling down her spine and suddenly, Artemis's own pain wasn't so important.

"Robin, seriously, what's wrong?"

"Doesn't matter right now. We need to figure a way out of here."

"How?"

There was another pause, and this time, the pain was easily evident in Robin's voice. "Dunno. We can't try and dig our way out. Too dangerous."

Artemis "hmmed" in agreement, thinking. Talking to Robin was nice. It was helping her to focus on something other then the pain she was in. "Do you think the others are looking for us?" She asked.

"Definitely." Robin laughed weakly. "Wally's probably tearing the whole place apart."

Artemis grinned despite herself. "He's really something else when he puts his mind to it." Uh, wait, did she just say that out loud?

Robin chuckled again. "Yeah. He's an idiot but he's our idiot."

"Yeah." Artemis agreed. Wally did have a bit of a likable side. Just a little one. "And the others? Think they're okay?"

"Conner definitely made it out in time. Don't worry, they'll be all right."

"Hey Robin?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you, um, see anything?"

There was a shuffling sound as Robin adjusted himself slightly. "No, I think there's too much stuff on top of us to see."

Artemis sighed, relieved. "Good." It had been a stupid thought. But she didn't know what kind of injuries she had sustained, and the thought of losing her vision was terrifying. "So," pain shot up her leg again and she flinched, which in turn made her arm spasm painfully. She decided to wait a second or two to let it subside. "So," she ground out again after a couple more seconds, "got any ideas?"

"What?" Robin sounded surprised, almost like he had been woken from a daydream or something.

"Of how to get out of here. What should we do?" Artemis asked, her sense of fear growing for her young teammate.

"Oh, right..." There were a few more seconds of silence, which Artemis was beginning to hate. The only thing that made being trapped down here bearable was talking. "Is your comm working? Mine's not."

Artemis tugged at her right arm again, the one that wasn't shooting pain up into her shoulder, though it was starting to tingle unpleasantly. She could move her fingers, but the arm was completely held fast. Something heavy was pinning it in place. She gritted her teeth and tugged at it hard. There was an eerie kind of groaning from the debris piled above her, and the rest of her body immediately rebelled from the sudden movement. The pain made spots of light dance in front of her eyes. Maybe she blacked out for a second because the next thing she knew, Robin was hissing something.

"...ou okay! Artemis!"

"M'fine." She muttered. "Definitely not trying that again though."

"Try what? What did you do?"

"Both my arms are stuck, so I tried to pull one loose."

"Remember what I said?" Robin sighed. "Apparently whatever is above us is too unstable for us to move around too much."

Artemis thought about what had to be thousands of pounds of metal and cement stacked precariously above them and swallowed hard."Right, moving is definitely out of the picture."

"So I take it you can't reach your comm?" She could tell Robin was working hard to keep the disappointment out of his voice, which made her feel awful.

"No. Sorry Rob."

"s'fine." Artemis started at the slightly slurred words. Something was so so wrong with him, and she couldn't help imagining all the horrible injuries this kind of situation could cause.

"You're gonna be okay Robin. We both are."

"Artemis?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep talking okay."

"Okay, but why?

"I'm really tired and I don't want to..." His voice was suddenly young and scared, and Artemis felt a new kind of pain in her chest as she listened. "I just need something to focus on."

"Yeah, no problem Robin."

"... Thanks Artemis." His voice sounded so small and Artemis started praying that someone would find them soon as she began to think of her best Green Arrow story.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Thank you Loxare! You are my greatest ally! Anyhow, all the cool kids seemed to be hurting Robin horribly in their stories, so I thought I would give it a try. I must admit, it was pretty entertaining in a poor Robin sort of way.**

 **Anyhow, hope you guys enjoy!**

Chapter 5

There was just to much to take in. Metal creaking and splintering, walls and supports collapsing, flames devouring any fuel or wood they found. Where were they!? Conner was furiously searching through the piles of rubble around him, grabbing slabs of concrete and throwing them aside while concentrating for any sign of life. He had been able to track down a few heartbeats. But all he had found were some guards trapped beneath the smoking remains of what might have been a laboratory. Conner had rescued them. They had been injured, and it would be what Superman would do. But he wasn't happy about it. They had made him waist time, time he could have spent looking for Robin and Artemis.

Suddenly Conner's comm came to life again and he growled as he heard Wally's voice.

"Superboy?"

"I told you to leave me alone." He said angrily. He didn't have time for this and had half a mind to just crush his comm and be done with it."

"I know." Wally said sounding equally irritated and a bit scared. "But I thought I'd warn you, the remains of this building are extremely unstable."

Conner snorted as he threw back a piece of sheet metal that was lying on top of another smoking pile of twisted support beams and plaster. "Thanks for the warning Kid Flash but I think I'll survive."

"Yeah." Wally snapped. "I'm sure you will, but Robin and Artemis are totally capable of being crushed."

Superboy froze from where he had been about to haphazardly throw a slab of concrete behind him.

"Exactly."Wally said, interpreting the silence. "So just be careful. Kay?"

"Yeah." Conner said slowly, horrified that his actions could actually have caused his friend's deaths instead of helping them.

"Um," Wally's voice was hesitant and apprehensive. "You haven't found anything right?"

Conner felt his anger soften slightly at his friend's tone. Wally was scared and just trying to help. Yet again, Superboy had let his anger get in the way of his friends. "Some guards, but no sign of either of them yet."

"Okay." Wally said, his voice shaking slightly. "Thanks for helping look Conner."

Conner thought that was a weird thing to say. Of course he would help to look. His friends were the closest thing to family he had. Suddenly he felt the urge to say something comforting to Wally. The speedster was obviously shaken. But he didn't know what. It wasn't like he could promise Kid Flash that this was all going to end okay. Because the reality was it might not. But thinking about that made Conner irritated because why would you want to think of something that depressing if it might not happen?

Finally, he settled on a, "Hang in there Wally," before returning to his work, albeit more carefully this time. If only he had X Ray vision like Superman this would be easy. Conner clenched his fists tightly around the 2 by 4 he was holding, effectively splintering the wood. He wasn't Superman. He was Conner, and that would just have to do. He would prove right here that he didn't need all of Superman's powers to live up to his legacy. He could do good work just being Conner.

Proceeding carefully, Superboy picked through the next couple mounds of rubble slowly. And he still hadn't found anything when M'gann's voice echoed in his head.

" _Team!_ "

Conner put his hand up to his comm before realizing the voice was telepathic. His heart lifted slightly at her powers reappearance. This had to mean she was feeling better.

" _M'gann, how are you feeling?_ " He asked as he worked, pulling heavy half melted pieces of concrete away from a mass of crumbling wreckage underneath.

" _I'm feeling a lot better. Thanks Superboy. And so is Aqualad._ "

" _Indeed I am,_ " came their leader's voice, and Conner almost smiled. It was good to here him. " _Miss Martain has given me a brief summary of the situation. Have either of you found anything?_ "

This time it was Kid Flash's voice that piped up, and Conner noticed that he sounded even more frightened then before. " _No, nothing! We've been searching for about 20 minutes and we can't find them!_ "

" _Miss Martian, you know what to do,_ " said Kaldur.

" _Yes._ " M'gann agreed.

" _What?_ " Both Wally and Conner asked simultaneously.

" _She is searching for Robin and Artemis telepathically._ " Aqualad explained.

A few seconds passed where everyone refrained from talking to let M'gann work. A small part of Conner realized that if she didn't find anything, it would mean that they were either unconscious, or...

" _They're here!_ " M'gann gasped.

" _Where!? Show us!_ " Conner could feel Kid Flash's anticipation through his voice.

Superboy was already looking into the sky and saw the dark silhouette of the Bioship gliding towards them from the East.

" _I see you!_ " He said.

" _Yeah, so do I_!" Kid Flash added. " _We'll follow you to their location._ "

" _Okay, but hurry!_ " M'gann's voice was frantic. " _They're both badly hurt!_ "

Conner mentally steeled himself for what he might find before launching into the air to follow.

* * *

" _Artemis, Robin, can you hear me_?" The voice made Robin jump, or at least he would have jumped if he could. As it was, all his involuntary action accomplished was sending white hot pain shooting down his neck and chest. It should have hurt a lot more then it did actually, but Robin's mind was already getting fuzzy and he could literally feel himself becoming more and more disoriented from blood loss.

Artemis paused from her story. It had been a good one. One of her first outings with Green Arrow that reminded Robin of his first days working with Bruce. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one who messed up so many times in the beginning. In fact, he still messed up if this situation was anything to go by.

" _M'gann!_ " Artemis thought, and Robin could feel her relief flooding through the mind link. " _We're here_! _Can you find us through the link?"_

" _Yes, Superboy and Kid Flash are coming now._ "

"Thank god." Artemis muttered out loud. Robin blinked and desperately tried to clear his head. This was important. They were going to be rescued and he needed to stay awake now more then ever! Well, on the other hand, this did mean he would have to say something; Which would make his situation a lot more real and scary then he wanted it to be.

" _Hey Miss M._ " He greeted lightly. He didn't want to freak his team out too much, and it really was a weight off his chest to knew that his friends were coming to help.

" _Rob, what's wrong?_ " Robin grinned. Leave it to Wally to be able to recognize something was off just from his voice.

" _Hey KF. Guys, you need to be really careful when you're removing all this stuff off of us._ "

" _We have been being careful._ " That was Conner.

" _Good._ " Artemis said. " _Because whatever is keeping us trapped down here is creaking ominously and I don't feel like becoming a human pancake._ "

" _Don't worry guys. We will be."_ Wally assured.

" _There's... something else too._ " Robin admitted, careful to keep his voice neutral. He could sense Artemis move a bit beside him. It was obvious she had known something was wrong from the get go.

" _What is it Robin?_ " Kaldur asked. He was okay! That was a relief. " _It is important that we know your entire situation before we begin._ "

" _I-_ " Suddenly Robin was finding it hard to talk. This was so stupid! Just tell them. " _I'm hurt,_ " he said hesitantly.

" _How badly?_ " Asked Aqualad.

Biting his lip, Robin took a few breaths to calm himself down before continuing. " _Pretty bad._ "

The mind link stayed quiet, a kind of tense anticipation as everyone waiting for him to elaborate.

It was then Robin wondered if it wold be easier to explain this by being precise and to the point like he was with his mentor. It was worth a shot. " _I-injury to the shoulder. Impaled by... something. I can't tell._ " He waited a few seconds, then added as an afterthought. " _I think I've lost a lotta blood. Whatever's in my shoulder, you haveta be careful not to... to pull it out._ " He squirmed at the thought, simultaneously scowling at his own speech.

Kid Flash was the first to speak. " _Oh dude._ " He said softly.

" _'s'fine KF,_ " said Robin sluggishly. It was strange, but he always felt braver when he was with his friends. " _Artemis's hurt too. Just, ya know, don't squish us 'r anything._ "

" _Miss Martian,_ " Robin heard Aqualad ask. " _Have you sufficiently recovered enough to use telekinesis?_ "

" _I think so, yes._ "

" _Then you need to go and help the others._ "

" _Understood._ "

The conversation mostly stopped after that, though it was obvious from the little they did communicate that everyone was working hard. Robin could feel dust and dirt fall and hit his face. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side as much as he could, grateful that at least his mask protected his eyes. He could actually here the progress his friends were making as he and Artemis waited there in the dark. His shoulder still hurt, but as before, the sharp sickening pain was almost separate from him. That was probably shock. Was he in shock? He thought he was if the blood trickling down his side was any indicator. Robin thought through the list of symptoms to stay awake. Because he was definitely tired. That was a symptom actually. He was cold, which was another one. But what were the rest? He frowned. He should know this. Batman had been drilling it into his head since he was nine.

"Look!" Artemis whispered beside him, and Robin opened his eyes again to be met not by blackness, but a few streaks of light. He stared at them like a lifeline, relishing the lack of total darkness.

" _Y'guys'r getting close._ " He thought. He had to work hard to not tell them yet again to be careful. He knew they were being as cautious as possible.

" _How you guys holding up?_ " Kid Flash asked.

" _I'll live._ " Robin said, shivering.

" _Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see anyone right now. Even if it's you._ " Artemis added.

Robin chuckled slightly.

" _Just be okay, okay?_ " Wally said, not taking the bait.

" _Uh huh._ " Robin mumbled. He would have said more to reassure his best friends, but laying still and remaining quiet just sounded so much better to him right now.

By this point, both Robin and Artemis could here the scraping and creaking above them as Kid Flash, Conner, and M'gann worked to drag all the rubble carefully away. Robin was now staring hungrily upwards for the moment when he would see the sky and smell fresh air. He knew his friends were coming, he just had to be patient. But it was hard. His exhaustion was quickly becoming an issue. The movement issuing from above was getting quieter, and seemed more far away as the seconds stretched into minutes. The specks of light started to flicker out a few times and he had to blink hard and force his brain to cooperate when he noticed this was him falling asleep.

Finally, _finally,_ there was a rough grinding sound and a huge piece of the blackness above them was thrust away. Conner stood there, the dim moonlight illuminating his features from behind as he breathed hard and stared down at them. There was still a deluge of wires and pipes and things crisscrossed from above, but Robin felt his breathing even out when he saw his friend. Conner was only a few feet above him now so with any luck the rest of this wouldn't take long.

It was hard to tell, Robin's vision was a bit blurry, but he thought Superboy was frowning.

"Finally." Conner said, his voice tired but relieved before switching back to the mental conversation. " _Okay M'gann._ " He stepped out of the way and Miss M apperaed in the gap above them.

" _Robin, Artemis, tell me if I'm hurting you._ " she said in their minds.

Instead of answering Robin simply closed his eyes again. It wouldn't be long now. They would be safe soon. And whenever he closed his eyes the pain in his shoulder dulled slightly. The sound of metal and rock shifting could be heard from above as Robin took slow breaths, counting them as Batman had taught him. It would help to calm him down, as well as manage the pain. He just had to be mindful not to fall asleep. He could do that. He just had to... to be careful and.. and...

Suddenly, the nerves in his shoulder began searing in agony, and he couldn't help screaming through clenched teeth. " _M'gann stop!_ " he cried as the shock of it thrust him brutally back into reality.

" _Oh my gosh! Robin, I'm so sorry!_ " She sounding horrified. He could feel a fresh wave of blood pouring down his shoulder.

" _S'fine._ " He said breathing fast as he worked to calm himself down. Staying conscious was like a game of tug of war now. Every part of him begged to just give in and succumb to sleep. But he knew he couldn't. " _Keep going. Just... just don't do whatever y'were doing._ "

" _I will..._ " M'gann's voice drifted off before gasping. " _Superman? Batman?_ "

At the mention of his mentor's name, Robin's eyes snapped open. Lucky it was night time, as even the dim glow through the now sizable gap above him was enough to make Robin blink several times. Even so, there was no doubt. Robin could see Superman neatly landing next to M'gann, and he war carrying – Robin had to blink again to confirm it – he was carrying Batman.

Robin snorted, which sent waves of misery radiating in all directions. But he would have never in a million years imagined Bruce accepting the help of Superman. It was funny until Robin realized that Batman had done it for him. Because of him. The only thing that ever made Bruce forget his stubborn pride was when Robin was in trouble. He knew, he'd seen it before in the field. Despite the pain and exhaustion, Dick smiled up at Bruce.

"Hey Bats." He said weakly.

"Hey Kiddo." Bruce said quietly back.

Suddenly the dark image of Batman began to blur and Robin frowned up at it. Then Bruce was talking again, or at least Robin thought he was, but he couldn't make out what he was saying. The fatigue that had been threatening to overwhelm him was back with a vengeance. And this time, Robin was powerless to stop it. He looked up at the blurry outline of Batman once more before reluctantly slipping into blackness.

* * *

"Robin? What's wrong? Robin!?"

Wally was beside the man in seconds. It would have been milliseconds if he weren't limping and using a stupid slab of wood for balance. He had slipped off Wolf's back ages ago to help with the rescue effort. No way was an injured leg keeping him from doing whatever he could.

This was the first time he had seen his friends trapped under the remains of the building. He had been forcing himself to work to get them free, because he knew if he looked at either Robin or Artemis he wouldn't be able to keep going. But with Robin dropping out of the mind link and Batman's concerned shouts, he couldn't take it any more.

Even though Wally had been expecting things to be bad, his brain still went momentarily numb as he looked down. He could see Artemis, her head and part of her body anyways, but the rest of her was covered by rubble. She was scowling, trying not to look scared or injured, but how could someone not be in pain in her condition. She was so headstrong sometimes. Kid Flash almost made fun of her until he remembered she was buried under a building. But then he laid eyes on Rob and it felt like the world had dropped out from under him. Robin was less covered in debris then Artemis, but that only served to showcase a clear view of his injury. Of course he had heard Robin describing his condition to the team a few minutes ago, but that didn't make it any easier to see. While Artemis was pinned to the ground by slabs of cement, Robin was, Wally swallowed, impaled by a piece of metal running through his shoulder. Maybe a support beam used in the ceiling, it was hard to tell. But it was obvious that the object was holding him in place. What was really scary however was how much blood had pooled around the younger boy. It was hard to see the crimson against his vest, but blood shone eerily around his upper arm.

"Superman!" Batman barked, and Wally looked over to see the cold intense eyes of the hero staring at the two teenagers below.

"Right here." Superman said, laying a comforting hand on Batman's shoulder.

"I need you to cut away the metal, a good few inches above the skin."

Superman nodded, and Batman turned to face M'gann.

"Miss Martian, when the metal is cut, I need you to levitate the rest of the debris away from Robin and Artemis. Are you up to it?"

M'gann was sitting down on a boulder a few feet away. She was pale and sickly looking, but at Batman's words she glanced up and stood immediately. "Of course."

It always amazed Wally how Batman could come into a situation and just take charge. Especially seeing how much danger his own son was in. In a matter of seconds everyone was standing in place, ready to act and awaiting Batman's order.

"Go." Batman said to Superman, who immediately shot a concentrated beam at the metal. It cut through quickly, and just as the metal started to shift, M'gann was there. Her eyes glowed green as she willed mounds of cement, wood, and plaster to be lifted from her friends. Wally wondered if there was still too much there for her to levitate all at once. She had been so weak last time he had seen her. But as the assorted items rose a few feet from the ground and were thrown out of the way, he felt a unexpected surge of pride for his teammate. She had come a long way from being the rookie they had met three months ago.

M'gann stumbled slightly and Kid Flash moved to grab her arm to help steady her.

"You okay?" He asked as he lead her back to the rock she had previously used to rest.

"I am now that Artemis and Robin are free." She smiled up at him. "Thanks Wally."

Wally nodded. M'gann was such a selfless person, and he really admired her for it. He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze before turning and limping back to his hurt friends. Batman was already crouched down next to Robin while Superman was kneeling over Artemis. Conner stood a ways away, arms crossed and eyes not leaving either of his two teammates.

"How are they?" Wally asked stopping in between the two heroes. Superman's eyes were glowing white as he examined Artemis, who was squirming under the gaze before flinching and going stiff.

"Broken left wrist and a few fractured fingers. Two cracked ribs, another bruised, and a compound fracture to the right tibia. A few nasty cuts as well. We need to get her to a doctor to prevent risk of infection to that leg."

"I'm fine." Artemis ground out. "Go help Robin."

"We're going to help you both." He said before turning to Wally. "We need some antiseptic and something to slow the bleeding to her leg. Can you-"

"I'm on it." Conner cut in, turning and heading for the ship which had been landed about fifty meters away. It would have the supplies they needed.

Superman stared at the form of the retreating clone for a few seconds before turned his attention to Robin, his eyes glowing once more.

"He's lucky," he said as he stared down at the unconscious boy. "The beam missed the subclavian vein by less then a millimeter.

Batman didn't respond as he continued to assess Robin's condition, but Wally saw his shoulders stiffen slightly at the news.

"Are there any other injuries?" Batman asked mechanically.

Superman paused, searching. "Nothing major. A few cuts and what might be a cracked rib. Looks like he has a concussion though."

"Then we need to get him to a hospital now." Batman said tightly. "How long will it take you to fly him to the nearest Zeta tube in New Brunswick?"

"New Brunswick!?" Wally burst out. "Why not just bring him to a Canadian hospital in Newfoundland? It's way closer then bringing him all the way back to Mount Justice or whatever!"

He hadn't been expecting an answer, but Batman graced him with one anyway. Though it was annoyingly short. "He's not safe in a normal hospital."

"He's dying!" Wally pointed out angrily. Saying it brought waves of despair crashing down on him. Robin was dying, that was reality. "He's not safe period! Why not better his chances with faster treatment?"

"We don't have time for debates Kid Flash." Batman growled, wrapping bandages he'd pulled from his belt around Robin's shoulder to stem the bleeding as much as possible. "Superman how long?"

"Taking a safe acceleration into account, probably between five to seven minutes. I just don't want to risk making his condition worse. He'll need something to protect him from the force of the wind too."

Wally looked down to see Batman already unclasping his own cape and wrapping Robin safely in it before gently slipping the still body into his arms. Robin wasn't moving at all, his eyes were closed, and he was deathly pale.

"Hurry." Batman said, handing the limp form over to Superman.

"I'll be back for Artemis before you know it," he said, looked down at Robin with a pained expression that Wally had never seen on the man of steel's face before. Superman walked a safe distance away from the others before shooting off from the ground. He was traveling amazingly fast, but _much_ slower than what Wally was accustomed to seeing from him.

Just then, Conner returned with a first aid kid in hand and knelt down beside Artemis. Kaldur was also with him, leaning on Superboy's shoulder but staring after Superman in concern before moving his concentration to Artemis.

"Hey Aqualad, Superboy. You both look a lot better." Artemis said, trying to push herself up.

"And you are looking the worse for wear my friend." Kaldur said softly, kneeling and putting a hand on her shoulder to push her down.

M'gann came walking over to drop to her knees next to Artemis too. "How do you treat this?" She asked, looking at the small bit of off-white bone poking out slightly under Artemis's knee.

Aqualad opened his mouth to speak, but Conner beat him to it.

"We need to sterilize the wound, try and stop the bleeding, and prepare a splint to immobilize the bone to avoid further injury." He had been looking back at where Superman had disappeared into the sky, but sensing the others eyes on him, turned.

"What?" He said shrugging. "I was taught about a variety of first aid procedures at Cadmus."

"Very good." This time it was the gruff voice of Batman that spoke and they all turned to see the dark night standing behind them, looking stoic as ever. "Kaldur, you and Kid Flash will stay here and administer first aid to Artemis." He paused, turning to Conner. "Superboy, you and Miss martian will continue to help with the rescue effort until other members of the Justice League arrive. There are still people trapped that need to be saved.

"What?" Conner burst out suddenly, turning to fix Batman with a fiery glare of his own. "M'gann can barely use her powers, and you're asking her to push herself even more for the sake of some low life-"

Wally watched Superboy abruptly flinch, then pause, then turn to stare at M'gann who was gazing back at him fixedly. It was obvious they were in the midst of a private mental conversation. And apparently it was a pretty important one, because the next minute Conner's gaze darkened but he shrugged and said a simple, "fine," to Batman before falling silent.

Wally didn't particularly like Batman's orders either. Part of him agreed wholeheartedly with Conner, but he knew deep down that a lot of lives could be saved other then just Artemis. And if they called themselves heroes, it was their job, no, their duty to save as many lives as they could. Even if those lives were the lives of their enemies. Because that's what they signed up for when they started in the hero business.

That didn't make it suck any less though.

"Alright." Wally said nervously as he began to dig in the first aid kit looking for saline. "You guys go, we know what we're doing."

"I sure hope so." Artemis muttered as Conner, M'gann and Batman walked away to search the crumbling remains of the compound.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N So now we come to the end of this little story. I had fun writing it and I'm sure I'll be doing more writing in the future. But again, drawing is my priority, so I'll mostly stick to that. This chapter was interesting for me to write because I usually stick to action. But who doesn't love a bit of character development here and there?**

 **Anyway, enjoy guys.**

Chapter 6

The team filed into the bio ship after what seemed like hours of work, though it honestly hadn't been more than forty five minutes. They had found a few people still alive, mostly guards, which was something. But Conner was surprised to realize he was feeling tired, and not just physically. The events of the day just kept adding and adding one on top of the other until he was mentally wiped out. Conner was angry at himself for getting mad at his teammates. It was disappointing and frustrating that after all this time he was still having problems properly controlling his emotions. For a while he thought he was getting better, with the support of Black Canary, but after tonight he was starting to doubt that. Then there was the fact that everyone had gotten hurt tonight. Conner would of thought that he being, well, himself would have meant he could protect his friends. He could have taken the force of that building for Robin and Artemis. He could have been more careful when they had started with the distraction and noticed that the slight dizziness he had begun to feel was Kryptonite. He could have stopped all his friends from being caught if he had only kept a level head. Why did he keep doing this? Why did he keep letting himself and his friends down? The worst part was that he knew his anger was at least partially responsible and he didn't know what to do about it.

Sitting down, Conner just stared out the window contemplating the night's events for a few minutes before M'gann spoke up and broke the tense silence smothering the ship's occupants.

"I'm sorry." she said. And her voice sounded broken. He slowly dragged himself away from the ocean flying past under them and looked up at her. What did she mean she was sorry? Why should M'gann feel bad?

"For what M'gann?" Kaldur asked gently.

She sighed and looked over at Aqualad. "If I'd thought to read those guards' minds, maybe none of this would have happened." Conner was surprised to see her eyes shine with tears before she hung her head. "I keep forgetting important things like this because I'm so inexperienced and it ends up getting the team hurt. Happy Harbour, the training exercise, and now this..."

"Hey!" Wally said consolingly. "Don't blame yourself. None of us knew it was a trap. We're the ones who are experienced. We should have suggested it, but we didn't." He shuffled uneasily in his seat. "Besides, if there's anyone who should be blamed it's me."

Conner stiffened slightly at this. Wally was feeling guilty too? Why? He had helped to save them hadn't he?

M'gann sniffed and looked up at him. "Why you?" She asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Wally frowned and swiveled his chair back and fourth while looking down at his feet. "When you guys first got compromised, I ran ahead and showed myself to the guards despite Rob telling me not to. If I hadn't been hurt, I bet rescuing you guys would have been so much easier. I bet we would have been able to get you guys out so much faster. Conner wouldn't have been hurt as badly, you and Kaldur wouldn't have been exposed to that fire for as long, and Robin and Artemis..." He trailed off, now looking out the window like Conner had done earlier.

There was a slight pause where Conner could only marvel at his teams similar feelings before Kaldur spoke again.

"I must admit, I too feel guilty. As your leader, I should have been there to lead the team, but instead I was unconscious. I am disappointed in myself. But..."

He paused and everyone turned to face him, eager for some sort of advice. "Every mission will have failures. There will always be opportunities we did not take that in hindsight looked to be the better and wiser choice. It is easy for us to focus on these mistakes and regret our actions. But that will not help us to improve. Instead we need to learn from what we did wrong so that next time, we can do better. That way, we can turn our mistakes into advantages."

Wally sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I guess," he said. "But that's easier said then done."

Kaldur nodded. "True. But we must try. Otherwise our failures will keep hurting us long after they are meant to."

"You're right Aqualad." M'gann said softly. "Next time-" She looked up determinedly. "Next time I'll be ready."

Conner stared at her, surprised. How had she been able to accept Aqualad's words so easily? M'gann had been upset just a moment ago but she looked so resolute now. Leaning back, he thought about what their leader had said. Learn from your mistakes. Had he been learning from his? Not really. He just got angry when he made them, which led to more mistakes. When he thought about it, maybe his biggest fault of all was exactly that. Being unable to see what he did wrong. So then, what had he done wrong? He acted impulsively instead of thinking things through. Maybe if he trusted his friends and listened to their ideas before rushing in, things like this would happen less. But the issue was that he didn't know if he could trust himself to be patient. He wanted to be able to. But how?

"I feel stupid," he admitted to the room at large. "Sometimes when we're in the field, it's like..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say or how to say it. Admitting things to Black Canary was hard enough. But talking openly with his team was even more difficult. "It's like I don't know how to control my own anger. I let it get ahead of me. Black Canary told me to channel it. And I've been trying. But sometimes when things get out of hand, I just... can't."

Admitting this almost made him feel ashamed, and he glanced over his shoulder to see how the others were taking it. But to his surprise, they didn't look taken aback by his confession at all. M'gann appeared a bit impressed, Wally uncharacteristically somber, and Kaldur understanding.

"Conner," Aqualad said, leaning forward slightly and resting his chin in his hand, "you have always had problems with anger, which is unsurprising considering your past."

Conner folded his arms across his chest and looked away as Aqualad continued.

"But mere months ago, you didn't even acknowledge your anger as a problem. You were unable to see how it affected the others on this team. The fact that your are struggling with this says a lot about how far you have come in such a short amount of time."

Conner didn't move, but inside he felt his heart lift. Did Kaldur really mean that? He had never thought about it that way before. Had he really been making progress? If his team was able to see it then it had to be true. Right?

"Thanks Kaldur." He said quietly, relaxing his posture a bit. "And I'm sorry guys. For tonight."

Wally laughed weakly. "You too huh? Dude, you were exposed to your one and only weakness and had the living daylight beaten out of you when you were down. And you think this was your fault?"

Conner felt slightly taken aback. "Well, yeah," he said hesitantly.

Wally shook his head. "Jeez, there's something wrong with all of us."

M'gann giggled. "Thanks for being such a great team guys." She said as she turned the ship inland. And Conner couldn't help but agree. He knew he had a lot of learning ahead of him, but with these guys who were willing to forgive and encourage, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

It took every once of self control to remain the master of his emotions as Batman waited for the rest of the Justice League to arrive. It couldn't have been more then twenty minutes before Superman had returned from taking both Artemis and Robin to the cave for medical treatment. Dr Leslie Thompkins -Dick's physician- would be there. He had called, asking her to be at the cave on standby immediately after receiving the distress signal from Kid Flash. Red Tornado and Black Canary would be there as well. Both had extensive training in medical procedures. He knew his son was in good hands, but _god_ , he needed to be there himself. He needed to know he was okay in person. But there was work to be done, and it was vital he set a proper example to the team. Not to mention there was no way of getting off this island without Superman other then the Martian Bioship. And that wasn't really an option. Not while there were lives to save. So he had crushed his emotions down like he always did and helped Superboy and Miss Martian to locate more survivors. He knew there was nothing he could do for Dick now, but that didn't stop every fiber of him from longing to be with his son.

They had found three more people before Green Lantern arrived. Two guards and a scientist. Not long after that Hawkman and Captain Marvel flew in to assist, and by that point, Batman dismissed the team and told them to go back to the Cave for medical treatment. They were good kids really, and they had worked hard despite the injuries they had sustained. Batman had seen the blood on Conner's shirt, the way Miss Martian struggled to lift large object with her powers and how she walked instead of flew, the obviously untreated wound on Wally's leg which he had ordered the boy to tend to once they had finished helping Artemis. But none of them looked to be in too bad of a condition to keep working. It had been between their comfort and peoples lives. Batman had made the right choice, even if it had been the more unpleasant of the two. It was a bit strange to remind the team to keep moving. Robin often worked through far more extensive injuries then most of the team had suffered tonight. It was something Bruce had been trying to discourage for years.

Still, it was time to go home. The rest of the League could handle cleanup.

So now Batman stood alone, looking up as the Batwing alighted almost noiselessly on the island. He had stayed and helped the team work, helped administer first aid to the wounded, helped pull rubble from the many who had lost their lives in the explosion. Now he was ready to see his son. He needed to know that Dick was okay.

Batman turned on his communicator. "Superman?"

Clark was beside him in a matter of seconds.

"You've seen the kinds of weapons that were stored here correct?"

"Of course." Superman's face was serious. "Looks like the ones the league has been tracking for months."

Batman nodded. "Kid Flash told me the scientist we found earlier seemed to be at least partially in charge. I would question him myself, but..."

Clark put a comforting hand on Batman's shoulder. "Say no more my friend. Me and the others will figure out exactly what was going on here, and why the team's mission went so off course. Leave it to me. Right now. your boy needs you most."

Batman nodded, grateful, before striding towards his plane. He could almost feel the Dark Knight's detached demeanor melting off him to be replaced by Bruce Wayne's frantic worry for his child. _Hold on Dick,_ he thought. _I'm coming._

* * *

If Dick had a dollar for every time he woke up in a white, sterile room smelling of alcohol to find himself in considerable pain with no idea of how he'd gotten there, he might be richer then Bruce Wayne.

First he heard the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor reading his pulse, the repetitive sound was almost comforting. Next there was the nearly complete silence of the background, but for the snippets of movement from somewhere far off. People in other rooms going about their business. Then there was the light scuffle of blankets being moved when he tried to adjust himself into a slightly more comfortable position. And if he were lucky, he would hear...

"Hey kiddo."

Dick blinked several times, waiting for the stark white of the florescent lighting to be accepted by his retinas. Then he looked around at his surroundings. Not in the Batcave or a hospital, but Mount Justice. Huh, never woken up here before. But he had already memorized the look of the place. The high tech medical machinery and neatly polished surfaces would almost be like the Batcave if the walls here were a stony grey instead of blinding white.

And then Dick looked over to see Bruce. Yup, there he was, sitting on a chair next to his bed with his cowl pushed back and looking like crap. Stubble adorned his chin and his eyes seemed almost purple due to lack of any proper rest. Dick always wondered about that. Yeah he was sure his guardian was worried and all, but it had to be boring sitting around and waiting for him to regain consciousness all the time. Why didn't he sleep while he waited? Dick would be fine waking Bruce up when he himself regained consciousness. But it didn't matter how serious the injury was. If Bruce was there, he would make himself suffer due to mental self torture and sleep deprivation.

"You know, you don't look so good." Dick said, his voice raspy. "Maybe you should lay down too."

Bruce smiled. "I'll be fine. It's yourself that you should be worried about."

"Bruce." Dick began pointedly. "One of these days you're going to be fighting one of the bad guys and just collapse from exhaustion. And I'll have to save your butt."

Bruce shook his head slowly, though he was still grinning "Come on, you know Alfred keeps me in better shape then that." He paused, looking at Dick intensely. "How you feeling buddy."

His shoulder definitely hurt, but the pain was easily manageable. He was probably on something for it. Looking around, he spotted a plastic cup filled with water on a small tablet next to his bed. "Like I could use some of that." It was weird how waking up in one of these rooms was usually accompanied by a sore throat. If it was really sore, it meant that Dick had been intubated. But his throat didn't feel _that_ bad right now, so maybe it was simply a bit dry.

Bruce acted immediately, grabbing the cup and holding the small clear straw sticking from it to Dick's mouth. He drank thirstily. Well, he wasn't thirsty per se. An IV drip next to his bed told him he was surely getting more then enough fluids, but the water felt nice going down. He was still enjoying his drink when Bruce took the cup away, to his very great annoyance.

"Easy there." Bruce said. "You've been heavily sedated for quite some time."

Dick scowled. He never in all his thirteen years got sick from medicine. Alfred had learned this long ago and usually gave him things to eat an hour or so after coming out of general anesthesia. Basic food like toast and sliced fruit, but food all the same. Jeez, all this thinking about food was making him a bit hungry.

Bruce was staring at him funny now and Dick looked up at him. "Sorry." He said sheepishly. "Just thinking."

Sighing, Bruce sat back in his chair and folded his arms. "Do you remember why you're here."

Dick started. He had been day dreaming about food, not the incident that got him here. "Uh..." He said thinking hard, and images started swimming in his mind. He couldn't put them together though, so he decided to try to piece together the days events from beginning to end. School, the manor, homework, and then the Cave. Yeah, they had been deployed on a covert mission to investigate an alleged illegal drug operation. And now Dick was remembering things really fast. Being ambushed. His friends getting captured and Wally being an idiot and getting injured. Finding out about the illegal weapons, rescuing his friends, and then...

Robin looked up at Bruce. "Please don't tell me a building really fell on me."

Bruce crooked an eye brow but didn't deny it.

Dick sighed. He must have been on some serious pain medication for him not to be feeling those kinds of injuries. He quickly moved his fingers and toes. They all worked. Huh, nothing badly broken then. That was cool. Meant a fast recovery time. Probably. He wondered how his shoulder was doing, but wasn't quite ready to ask about that yet.

"How are Wally and Artemis and everyone doing?" Dick asked. "Shouldn't Artemis be here in the medbay?"

"Artemis's leg required special treatment from a Orthopedist." Bruce said while rubbing his eyes tiredly. "She's in the hospital recovering. "Kid Flash was lucky. The bullet to his leg wasn't deep, and his body's rapid healing process had stopped any major bleeding before it become an issue. Dr. Thompkins treated it here in the cave. He has orders to stay off it for two weeks, but I've already seen him trying to use the leg."

Dick smiled. Typical Wally.

"As for Superboy, once his exposure to the Kryptonite was stopped, he recovered quickly. He had a few fractured bones, but they had already started healing by the time anyone could look at them. And Dr Thompkins is confident there will be no complications from the incident."

Dick nodded, unsurprised. What else could he expect with Conner being Kryptonian and all. Still, he wished he could heal that fast.

"Miss Martian," Bruce continued, "is fine. Again, once her exposure to dangerous levels of heat was dealt with, she began to recover nicely. Same with Aqualad, though he was given extra fluids and monitored for a few hours to be safe."

"Wow." Robin said. Relief for his friends making him feel a bit faint. "And... how about me?"

Bruce's expression darkened further, and he clasped his hands in front of his face as he leaned forward. "Do you remember being trapped under the building?" He asked.

"Not-" Dick began, then stopped himself. "Well, a little. I remember talking with Artemis a bit. But not too much after that."

Closing his eyes, Bruce waited a few seconds before speaking. "I'm surprised you recall as much as you do. You went in to hypovolemic shock."

Dick stared at his mentor. The news kinda struck him dumb and he wasn't sure how to take it. "I lost that much blood?"

Bruce nodded.

"From what?"

"You had been impaled by a metal support beam. Luckily it was kept in place while you were trapped or you would have hemorrhaged to death. As it was..." Bruce paused again and Dick could swear he could see the man shiver. "It was a close thing."

Was it weird that Dick felt worse about how much it bothered Bruce to see him hurt them he was bothered by actually being hurt?

"Wow." He said lightly, trying to break the mood. "We really got the smackdown on this mission huh?"

Bruce finally looked up at him again before straightening in his seat.

"Considering what you were up against, I would say you adapted to the situation quite well."

 _How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success._ Hadn't Batman told the team that not too long ago?

"What do you mean considering what we were up against?" Dick asked, fiddling with the tape on his left arm holding his IV in place. "Were you able to figure out why we were ambushed?"

"Yes." Bruce said, and there was anger in his voice now.

Okay, this would be good. Wanting to sit up, Dick started to push forward with his arms. That was a big mistake. His left shoulder suddenly erupted in agony and he froze with the sudden onslaught of pain, his breathing hitching. Bruce was standing over him in seconds, concern written all over the man's face.

"I'm fine Bruce!" He gasped, laying still and waiting for the pain to subside. It did, slowly. The agonizing nervy ache started to diminish into the dull throb he had woken up with. "It's just my shoulder didn't hurt that bad, so I thought moving would be okay."

Bruce sighed and reached down to prop up Dick's pillows for him before gently slipping a hand under his back and sliding him up onto them. Dick appreciated it. Laying down and talking to someone was annoying, to say the least.

"Dick, didn't I just say you were heavily sedated. You're on some serious pain medication right now. But just because you can't feel the full effects of your injury doesn't mean they're not there."

Nodding, Dick fidgeted a bit more to get comfortable in his new position, being exceptionally careful not to jostling his shoulder. "Yeah, sorry. That definitely wasn't intentional." His shoulder was still throbbing painfully as Bruce nodded before slowly sitting back in his chair.

"So?" Dick pressed. He way overstood why their mission had gone so catastrophically wrong. "Why were we ambushed on the island and everything?"

Bruce scowled. "We don't know all the details yet. The Justice League is still putting the pieces together."

Dick rolled his eyes. Bruce was such a good detective he already know a lot of what was happening. He was just being cautious.

"From what we have gathered, the Justice League weren't the only ones not wanting those weapons to get into public hands."

"Really?" Dick cocked his head. "But who else would be concerned with something like that?"

"We're not completely sure yet." Bruce said slowly. "But Sportsmaster and Wotan seemed to be under different orders than the rest, based on what Kid Flash and Superboy have told us. From what we can understand, they infiltrated the facility before hand. And I'm willing to bet they were the ones who tipped the Justice League of criminal activity on the island."

"Okay." Dick said, turning this new information over in his mind. "So they were like spies. But if they wanted the operation shut down, why not just do it themselves? Why lie about what was really going on there?"

"For a few reasons, one of them being the team." Bruce said darkly. "If we had been told of the kind of weapons being kept there, we would have never sent you on that mission."

"We could have handled it if we knew what we were up against." Dick said quickly. Bruce smiled at him.

"That's not the issue Dick. The kind of power those types of weapons contain would be devastating if they made it into circulation. The League has been tracking their development and has wanted them out of commission for a long time. The nature of the mission would normally call for a full League operation."

"Okay." Dick said slowly. "That's the League. But why would Sportsmaster and Wotan have wanted us there?"

"Think Dick." Bruce said, though not unkindly. "By luring you to the island instead of the Justice league, Sportsmaster and Wotan could take the team off guard if they played their cards right, and possibly obtain information that would be useful to whoever they were working for."

"But how would they convince the people actually developing the weapons to go along with that?" Robin asked.

"After talking with Kid Flash, I have a pretty good idea." Said Bruce. "They were told they could use you and the others on the team as collateral to keep the League away from their operations."

Right, Dick remembered that now. He snorted. "All that would really do is get the League's attention and make them mad."

"Both of which they accomplished." Bruce agreed.

"So." Dick said, piecing the events together. "That's why Sportsmaster decided to blow up the base once we showed up to free M'gann and Conner and Aqualad. He knew he wouldn't be able to get much more information from anyone once we rescued the others, so he took the information he got and blew up the facility like he was supposed to."

"Exactly." Bruce said. "Though, you got one part wrong."

Dick frowned at his mentor. "What?"

"Sportsmaster wasn't able to get any information. Despite interrogating the team using less than human methods, they refused to tell him anything about the League or the team."

Was Dick actually hearing a hint of pride in Bruce's voice?

"We can take care of ourselves." Dick said proudly.

"Yes." Bruce said. "You all got out safe despite the trap laid for you, so I'd say that's correct."

They both lapsed into thoughtful silence then, the heart monitor the only sound echoing through the otherwise quiet room. Dick's brain was working hard now. It was Batman's affinity for solving crimes rubbing off on him.

"Bruce." He said as he riffled through his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Who is Sportsmaster working for? He's shown up a lot lately. I mean, at first I thought he was just taking odd jobs like most lowlifes. But like you said, he had an agenda this time, just like he did all the times we've run into him before this. Whenever weird stuff's been happening he's there."

Bruce ran a hand through his hair while he looked at Dick, though the man's eyes were deep in concentration.

"I agree." He said. "Something's been going on that Sportsmaster is involved in. He seems to be wherever new forms of weapons are created. I wouldn't be surprised if he stole the blueprints of the weapons being developed at the facility on the island before blowing it up. That's another reason for why he could have been there."

Dick nodded in agreement. "He got the Venom from Kobra right? And his daughter Cheshire was there when the nanobots were stolen. It's like he's collecting weapons."

"Exactly." Bruce looked more tired then ever as he leaned forwards again. "This is going to need a lot more investigation Dick. But that's enough detective work for today. I think it's time you get a bit more rest. There will be time to deal with Sportsmaster and whatever the man's planning when you're better. But for now, your priority should be healing."

Dick's brain was still moving a mile a minute as he thought about all the pieces. Sportsmaster, hybrid weapons, venom, nanobots, increased criminal activity, and a possible organization controlling it all from the shadows. He wanted to dive right in and figure out what was going on. He didn't want to sit here in a stupid hospital bed and wait for his body to heal.

"How long will I be out of commission?" He asked Bruce suddenly.

His guardian scratched his chin. "Leslie's not entirely sure yet. Though your injury to the shoulder was initially serious, your lucky in that it should heal fairly fast."

"Perfect." Dick said happily, already reveling in the kind of challenge this case was posing.

"With the proper rest." Bruce cautioned, his voice suddenly stern. "Your shoulder isn't the only thing in need of recovery."

"Concussion?" Dick asked. He had suspected one after all, what with the dizziness and so on.

"Yes." Bruce said looking unhappy. "Along with some serious bruising and lacerations. It's amazing nothing was broken."

Dick shrugged his good shoulder. "Guess the good guys do get a break every once in a while." He grinned. "Or in my case, I didn't get a break, did I?"

Bruce's sigh was long suffering and he was just about to answer when there was a loud knock on the main doors to the med bay, which had been tightly shut their entire conversation. Not surprising as Bruce had his cowl down and Dick's face was uncovered.

"Not again." Bruce muttered.

"What?" Dick asked curiously. "Who is it?" He paused, his grin growing wider. "It's totally Wally isn't it?"

Bruce groaned in acknowledgment while pulling his cowl over his face. "He's been at it every few hours since early yesterday."

Dick blinked. "Yesterday?" How long had he been out exactly?

There was another fast knock on the door, followed by an all to familiar voice. "Come on! Conner said he thought he could hear Dick talking! I promise I won't mess with the X Ray machine again!"

Dick chuckled at that last bit while looking over at his mentor. Bruce was frowning as he began walking over to the door.

"Batman." Dick said quietly. The one word asking if his friends could come in to see him.

"You need your rest Robin." Batman said firmly as Dick stuck the mask resting on his side table to his face.

"But the last time I saw them was when they were all hurt and stuff. I promise I'll rest after I see them. Please?"

Batman stood staring at him for a few seconds before sighing. "Twenty minutes." He conceded.

"Yes!" Dick said, beaming at him.

Batman stepped forward and opened the door softly, but didn't immediately move out of Wally's path.

"Kid Flash." He addressed the teenager with a bit of steel in his voice.

Robin could imagine his friend fidgeting and guessed he had actually moved back a step or two if the click of crutches on the tile floor was any indicator.

"Uh, hey Batman." He said nervously. "I wasn't trying to, uh, disturb you or anything. We just wanted to see Rob."

We? Dick tried to see past Bruce but the man's broad figure took up the majority of the door.

"Twenty minutes." Batman said. "And absolutely _no_ roughhousing."

"We understand. And we didn't mean to intrude, we merely wish to see with our own eyes that Robin is recovering well." Okay, that was definitely Kaldur's voice. Dick tried to push himself up slightly to see over Batman's shoulder from his position, but that made his own shoulder twinge. He hissed and Batman looked back, but he had already rearranged his face into a neutral calm. He was such a ninja.

"We'll be careful." M'gann said softly. "We promise."

Batman nodded before making his way through the door. And then suddenly, the whole team was there. Wally bouncing up and down on one leg, M'gann floating and carrying a tray of delicious smelling cookies, Conner, his face more relief then scowl, and Kaldur, walking to stand next to Robin and smiling at him.

"Rob!" Wally burst out the moment he laid eyes on his friend. "Dude we haven't seen you in forever!"

Robin rolled his eyes in a sort of 'I couldn't help it' kind of way before fist bumping his best friend. "How's your leg?"

Wally held it slightly off the ground to show off the cast already complete with signatures. "Doesn't even hurt any more. Already healing like crazy because I'm so awesome."

"Right." Robin snorted, turning to the others. "Hey Kaldur, M'gann, Conner, you guys look a lot better."

"Thanks Robin." M'gann said, offering him a cookie which he took all too readily. If Batman hadn't told her not to bring them then he couldn't have wanted Robin not to have one. Yeah, that reasoning was good enough.

"Yeah." Superboy smiled faintly. "Definitely feeling the aster."

"You too, look much better then the last time we saw you." Kaldur added.

"Yeah?" Robin asked as he bit into the chocolatey goodness that was his first morsel of food in what sounded like days. "I actually feel pretty good right now all things considered."

Wally started slightly. "Oh dude, before I forget, I've been meaning to give this back by the way." And he threw something he had been holding onto Robin's lap.

Looking down, Robin recognized the bright yellow colour and rough fabric of his utility belt immediately. "Nice!" He said, looking up and grinning. "Thanks bro! Where'd you find it?"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "In an evil science lab made to develop weapons of destruction guarded by a bald assassin of doom."

Robin rolled his eyes before turning back to Kaldur. "Any word on Artemis?"

"Some." Kaldur said. "We have received word that Artemis is recovering nicely and is wanting to finish her recovery here at the cave. Hopefully we will see her back before long."

"Wish we could just go see her now." Wally added. "But the Justice League is keeping it a secret as usual."

Robin looked around at the others annoyed expressions and could sympathize with his friends. But as the team didn't know Artemis's true identity, he knew seeing her was pretty much out of the question.

"Aw come on Wally." He said happily. "You two would just end up fighting and both pulling your stitches or something."

"Hey!" Wally said, jumping up from the chair he had been sitting in and banging his bad leg on Robin's bed. Dick couldn't help laughing with his friends as he jumped around.

"Point proven." He said amused, as Wally glared at him. "So did you guys hear about what happened on the island? Apparently they wanted to use us as collateral against the League and had a set up and everything and we still came out on top."

Conner raised a solitary eyebrow.

Dick got the point. "Uh, relatively so." He corrected himself.

Wally snorted as he sat back down.

"Okay fine!" Dick said. "But we technically foiled their plan. So that means we won."

"That we did." Kaldur said nodding. "The mission was, when it all comes down to it, a success, as far as stopping their illegal operation. That is what we are here to do after all. Stop crime and save lives."

The others nodded.

"Something still bothers me though." Conner said. "You said sportsmaster was the one to blow up the buildings, right? So who was he working for? If not the weapons dealers?"

"Yeah," said Robin, sinking further into his sea of pillows. "Me and Bats were just talking about that. Sportsmaster seems to be getting around a lot lately."

"Well," M'gann interjected. "We are usually there to stop him before something too bad can happen."

"Good point babe." Wally said as he put his hands casually behind his head. "As long as we're here, he's gonna be miserable, along with anyone he's working for."

Robin smiled at his teammates, his heart light. Yeah, maybe they had all gotten their butts kicked in their last mission, but it seemed it had in general brought the team closer.

"At the very least," he said, "whatever Sportsmaster has planned? We'll be there to stop him. Together."

The others smiles clearly said they agreed wholeheartedly.

And for the second time since forming themselves into Young Justice, Robin found himself thinking that this team thing might just work out.


End file.
